Equinox
by The Silent Scream
Summary: As a new foe comes after Willow and her unborn child, the gang is determined to protect them both from harm - but the upcoming equinox and its effects might make this harder than expected. Willow / OC established relationship, rating for violence and cursing
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing!  


Equinox

Fighting, Willow had to realize to her dismay as she ducked yet another blow and felt so horribly clumsy and awkward, definitely had been easier when her pregnancy hadn't been so advanced yet; still, despite the fact that she was showing quite the rounded belly by now, she managed to avoid the hit, the horned demon's fist slamming into the shelf behind her instead of straight into her face, a cry coming from Anya as several glasses of merchandise fell to the ground and shattered there.

"Don't destroy the merchandise!", the ex-demon cried, of all things, none of the three demons which had attacked the shop, and in broad daylight no less, caring too much though, focusing their attacks on the witch, even though that was made considerably harder by said witch's partner, the taller woman's good eye glowing brightly red as she let out a roar and shot forward, tackling the demon who just had tried to hit her lover and forcing him down to the ground, her teeth tightly grit as she grabbed his head with both hands, then gave a powerful jerk, her muscles bulging, the sound of the demon's neck breaking mixing with the growls she was letting out now.

Even though she had gotten rid of one of them now, there still were two of them left, and despite the fact that clearly, she was the one most capable at hand to hand combat, with Buffy not being there, they didn't go after her, but after Willow yet again, the redhead by now having whipped up a shield though, flinching each time a blow hit it, but not letting them get close enough to do any actual damage.

Annoyed by how they ignored her and worried for her wife, Pat let both hands flame up, ignoring the cry of protest Anya let out; with another angered roar, she moved in to attack, at least gaining the attention of one of the two, just in time so he could take her flaming fist right into the mouth, teeth and jaw breaking beneath her knuckles and making him let out a blubbering cry of pain while she grunted, his sharp teeth having torn her hand open, an injury she didn't let herself be stopped by though.

"Don't you know it's bad manners to hit a pregnant woman?" she demanded to know as she punched him again, the additional pain of her fire burning him making him yell yet again; then, she heard Anya call out to her and turned her head just a fraction to look, smirking when the brunette raised a dagger, her smirk widening as Anya tossed it at her and she caught it with ease, ramming it into the demon's throat all the way to the hilt, then jerking it back out, already turning towards the other one while her kill still was going down.

By now, the only demon who had remained standing had figured out that he couldn't get through the shield Willow had conjured up and that there was a very real danger just a few feet away from him, and thus had turned to face her; his gaze flickered to his dead companions, then focused on her again, his brightly green eyes narrowing as he moved a few steps back, clearly trying to figure out some sort of strategy.

"Come on", Pat growled at him while Willow allowed herself to relax slightly, once more glad that she was married to a demon with above average strength and stamina, the flames only adding to the package, "or are you scared of taking on someone your size?"

In response, the demon snarled at her, baring his sharp teeth, as if that would impress her; she raised the dagger slightly, as if to remind him that she still had it – before they both exploded into motion, clashing into each other just inches away from the redhead's shield, causing her to take back an involuntary step at the sheer violence with which they started to fight.

Growling quite loudly by now, Pat grappled with the other demon, the horned monstrosity too close to her to let her use her dagger properly; she did manage to inflect some shallow cuts, but nothing life-threatening, not managing to get the weapon into proper position for that, her opponent making sure to keep that from happening as he punched and clawed and bit at her, putting everything he had into the fight, clearly not willing to share the fate of his two companions.

Still safe behind her shield, the witch's mind raced as she tried to figure out how to help her partner with this; the black haired woman was a skilled fighter, and had proven just that in countless fights before, but it was painfully obvious that the demon she was battling wasn't half bad, either, by now having managed to land quite a few hits, his claws tearing deep gashes into her wife's forearms as she blocked yet another one, bloody scratches showing through the tears in her clothes where he had managed to get past her blocks.

Grunting as another hit landed, Pat took a step back, the demon to her dismay following suit; growling throatily, he lunged at her, and she quickly sidestepped, a malicious smirk forming on her face as he now had made his first and last mistake, a quick, low kick swiping his feet out from underneath him and sending him to the floor with a tremendous crash.

Quickly, before he had the chance to get back to his feet, she dropped down to one knee next to him, bringing up the dagger, her teeth grit tightly as she slammed it down, ramming the blade into the back of the demon's neck all the way to the hilt, a strange gurgling sound coming from the creature as his eyes rolled back into his head and he died, a heavy breath leaving Pat as his body went limp and she pulled the dagger back out.

"Alright", she grumbled, coming back to her feet while Willow finally stopped fuelling her shield and it vanished into nothingness, "what the Hell was that all about? Demons attacking us here in bright daylight? They suicidal or something?"

"Maybe you should have left one of them alive for questioning", the witch gave back, with a concerned look at her as she now grimaced, finally feeling the injuries she had taken during the fight, now that the adrenaline was wearing off, both of them glancing at Anya though when the ex-demon shook her head, a hint of discomfort in her voice when she spoke up the moment both women were focusing on her.

"Wouldn't have done any good", she let them know, eying the dead demons with her discomfort growing visibly, "I know them, well not those three personally, but their kind… Kachak-demons, they are barely above animals, I doubt you even would have been able to talk to them."

"They attack stores often then?" Pat wanted to know, frowning down on the corpses, "or what are you trying to tell us? You don't look all too happy."

"I'm not", Anya confirmed, "because they don't venture out on their own, usually. Or fight the way the one you battled did. I think someone was… controlling them, perhaps, or had forced their will on them, somehow."

"To attack the store?" the demon frowned, "you mean, someone's after you then?"

Momentarily, Anya was startled by how dense both the witch and her wife seemed, not able to see what she was aiming for; then, she shrugged it off and shook her head, a small sigh escaping her before she replied.

"No", she let the couple know, prompting them to exchange a worried look, by now at least sensing that there was more to this than just an attack on the store, a suspicion the ex-demon confirmed with her next words. "Didn't you realize whom they were after? They didn't care a bit about me, or the store. All they focused on until you started fighting them, Pat, was Willow."


	2. Chapter 2

"This is about the child, I just know it is", Pat raged half an hour later, looking as if she wanted to kill the demons all over again, "why else would they attack now? There's been peace on that front for a while now, but we all knew it wouldn't last!"

"We did", the witch had to agree, giving her partner a worried look – after all, she still was injured, not having bothered to demon out to heal, too agitated to even think of this after what Anya had said. Once more, the redhead had the chance to observe how much Pat's protective streak had extended to the child she carried, something which at times astonished her, considering how she had reacted when she first had been told the news of the pregnancy; clearly, all doubt was gone by now, and she was as fiercely protective of the baby as she was of Willow, willing to get injured and even die if she had to, to protect them both from harm.

"There's not much we can do for now though", she went on after pondering this for a moment, grasping her partner's arm to stop her frantic pacing, "those demons are dead, they wouldn't have been able to tell us anything if they weren't, and we have no idea who sent them."

"There has to be some way to find out", the demon grumbled in response, running both hands through her hair now that Willow had stopped her from marching up and down, "don't tell me that all we can do now is wait until they try again and see if they send smarter demons this time. Cause I'm not willing to put you into harm's way just so we can find something out."

"You could try Willy's", Anya suggested in response, smiling brightly at her own smart idea, "he's a snitch, and he might know something!"

"He might", Pat agreed at once, her gaze darkening, "and if he tries to tell me that he doesn't, I'll beat it out of him. Wouldn't be the first time, either."

"No, it wouldn't", Willow agreed yet again, "but before we go anywhere, you demon out and heal, that demon got in a few pretty good hits. And now don't tell me that this can wait because I can tell you're in pain."

"Hmph", the taller woman let out, to the slight amusement of her wife, "you know me too well. But fine, demoning out first, then Willy's."

Momentarily, Pat wasn't sure if she wanted to take Willow along to the bar, considering the fact that some malevolent human or demon out there wanted to harm their child; on the other hand though, leaving her behind alone, with no fighter around to protect her, wasn't a all too welcome thought either.

"Call Buffy", she thus told Anya after pondering this dilemma for another minute, "tell her we need her here right away, I'm not taking Will to this dive full of demons if we don't know who's after her."

"You want to go there alone?" Willow protested at once, not really surprising her, but still prompting her to cross her arms over her chest while she nodded, "don't you remember what happened the last time you did that?! You got beaten up and then Buffy and I nearly burned to death when we went to find you!"

"I'm not taking you there", Pat immediately argued back, giving her a strict look to underline her point, "not if someone's out there who's willing to hire or mind control demons to get you! That creep might be sitting right there right now and the moment you walk in with me, they got a free shot at you, and I am not letting that happen!"

"And if I stay here, they might have a free shot in case they send someone else, or drop by themselves to see how the demons did", Willow pointed out while Anya hurried off to call the Slayer, giving her best to keep her voice level and calm – they hadn't fought much before the marriage and not once since the wedding itself, and she intended to keep it that way.

"That's why Buffy will be here", the demon gave back at once, making her partner grimace as she realized that she couldn't really argue against that, "she'll keep an eye on you, and I'll go and beat some information out of Willy."

Even though she still wanted to protest, not liking this idea at all, the witch found herself at a loss for words; and moments later, the taller woman's expression softened considerably and she moved closer to her, pulling her into a tender embrace, the anger gone from her voice as she spoke on.

"I know you don't like this, and I can't say I don't blame you", she mumbled, keeping her voice low so Anya wouldn't hear, even though the brunette was still on the phone, explaining to Buffy what had happened, "but you know that whoever is behind this isn't the only one out there who'd jump at a chance to attack us. I can handle a bunch of demons if I have to, on my own, but not if I have to make sure none of them get past me and at my pregnant wife."

"I know", Willow had to admit, "and you're right, I don't like this… but you're also right about the rest, the Goddess knows we both did more than enough to piss off the demon population of Sunnydale. They'll attack you on sight as well, so please be careful…"

"I will", Pat promised her, "and hey, it's in the middle of the day, so at least there'll be no vampires. If I'm lucky, there won't be many demons, either."

"Call me the second you got done there", the witch strictly told her, "just so I know that you're alright and that Buffy and me won't have to rush in and rescue you."

"Will do", the taller woman reassured her, making her smile weakly at last; for a few more seconds, the couple just looked at each other, then Willow pulled the demon down for a tender kiss, trying hard to forget her worries as they waited for Buffy to arrive at the Magic Box, trying to push her worries about this quickly cooked up plan to the far back of her mind and telling herself that surely, everything would work out alright.

* * *

To her relief, Pat's guess that there wouldn't be much business at Willy's at that time of the day turned out to have been correct; apart from Willy himself, only three others were in the bar, all three of them demons, two of them snarling as she entered while the third one, a small and thin one, apparently decided that he was in no mood to fight, getting up from his seat the moment he recognized her and hurrying outside, even mumbling an apology as he brushed past her on the way to the door.

"Alright", she spoke up as the other two demons got up from their seats as well, not looking as if they were keen on leaving though, smiling at them pleasantly, "obviously, you guys want to fight. Fine with me, I always like some good exercise. You wanna go one after the other or both at once?"

"Slayer's pet", the bulkier of the two hissed in response, a split tongue darting out between his pointed teeth, prompting the black haired woman to raise an eyebrow before she shook her head, smirking again as she replied, both she and the two other demons ignoring the way Willy was trying to hide behind the counter.

"Really, that nickname?" Pat wanted to know, making the two demons growl, "you guys have been using that one for years. Can't you come up with a new one?"

"Less talking", the slimmer demon demanded, taking a daring step forward, "more fighting. I'll rip you apart, traitorous cunt, and then I'll deliver your head to the witch you're fucking."

"Such dirty language", Pat replied, shaking her head, "you should be ashamed. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"I ate my mother", the demon hissed, of all things – and then he got moving with surprising speed, launching himself forward, an attack the black haired woman had anticipated though, having noticed how his body had tensed up during the last word, nonchalantly sidestepping his charge and, in one smooth movement, turning and kicking his back, making him grunt as the combination of messed up attack and kick sent him down on all fours.

Hearing movement behind her, Pat spun back around to face the other demon, just in time to see his fist come flying at her; hurriedly, she dropped down to her knees, avoiding the punch, only to end up flat on her face as the slimmer demon had recovered surprisingly fast and tackled her from behind, a low chuckle coming from him as he pinned her beneath himself, his breath hot and stinky on her face as he bent down to murmur into her ear.

"Didn't expect that, did you", he wanted to know, the claws of one hand digging into her side, the sudden and unexpected pain causing her to grit her teeth, "that I'd recover so fast. Now I'll rip you apart, and then—"

She slammed her head back with all the vigour her position allowed her, a satisfying crunch reaching her ears as the blow connected, followed by a nasal cry of the demon while he fell backwards, clutching at his broken nose; the bulkier one's eyes widened, then he snarled and took a step forward, only to cry out in pain as well seconds later as her hand shot forward, firmly clutching the grip of the dagger she had brought along from the Magic Box, the sharp blade biting into his flesh right above the ankle.

The attack came so unexpected and cut so deep that he stumbled, then fell, giving Pat the room she needed to get up; and this was just what she did, a well-placed kick sending the slimmer demon back down as he tried to come up before the dagger flashed up again, gurgling sounds coming from the demon as she almost effortlessly slit his throat.

Again, she heard movement behind her, along with heavy breaths this time as the bulky demon was struggling to get to his feet; and this time, she knew no one would attack her from behind as she turned to face him, but still didn't waste any time, bringing her arm back and, with a snarl, sending the dagger flying, a squeal coming from behind the bar when it hit the demon in the throat and he went down.

"Don't try to run", Pat growled into Willy's general direction, sending a glare his way just to make sure, "I didn't come here just to kill your regulars, but I'm sure you figured that out by now."

"I can't tell you anything", the bartender whimpered from behind the counter, where he had been crouching during the fight, only glancing over the edge every now and then to make sure they weren't taking apart his bar, "I don't do this kind of thing anymore. Bad for business and I have to eat, too!"

With her good eye narrowing, Pat strode past the dead bulky demon, bending down and pulling the dagger from his throat without even slowing down; one glance at the nearest tablecloth told her that getting some demon blood on it wouldn't make it much dirtier, and she wiped the weapon clean on it before she tucked it back into the sheath on her belt, then moved a few more steps to the counter, reached over it and grabbed Willy, making him squawk as she pulled him into a more or less upright position.

"You won't have to eat again anytime soon if you don't answer my questions", she told him, momentarily glad again that Willow wasn't with her – the fight had been quick and not all too messy, but now, to get the answers she was quite sure Willy had, she might have to do some things to him the witch wouldn't approve of, having managed to still be kind-hearted and caring, despite all the things she had been through ever since her friendship with Buffy had begun.

 _Or because of them,_ the demon found herself musing while Willy was trembling in her grasp, _she's seen so much horror and death, so she does what she can to make the world a better place. Even if it means sparing shitheads like Willy here, something she probably knows I would never do._

"Tell me", she moved her attention back to the trembling bartender, "did you give answers to anyone about Willow? I'm sure you, being the town's demon grapevine, heard by now what's going on in our camp."

"I heard you got married", Willy confirmed, his gaze briefly flickering to her wedding ring a if to make sure it really was there and that he had heard the right thing, then his eyes focused on her again, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth as he went on. "And I heard she's got a bun in the oven. Did she end up in the wrong bed, eh? And you married her anyway? That's kind of you."

He started chuckling, as if he had said something incredibly funny; for a few seconds, the demon just looked at him while he laughed, his amusement keeping him from noticing how her body went tense – and then she grabbed him at the back of the neck and slammed him down onto the bar, cutting his laughter off at once, a strangled squawk coming from him instead.

"You speak of her that way again, and I rip out your tongue", Pat told him, her grip on him tightening slightly when he tried to struggle, "I came here for answers, but I suppose I can get them elsewhere. Now talk. New arrivals in town, anyone asking after her or me? Spill your secrets, or I'll spill your blood."

"You can't", Willy pressed out, rolling his eyes in an attempt to look at her, somehow managing to put a sneer on his face despite the fact that one side of his face was pressed against the wood rather harshly, "I know you can't, you can't harm humans, you can't do anything to me!"

"Oh, that", Pat gave back, to his obvious dismay not sounding all too perturbed, "the chip. You know, funny story about that. We ran into a spot of trouble during our honeymoon, and, well, dealing with that taught us a few interesting things about that blasted piece of technology. Did you know that there's a certain spell which shuts it down? No? Let me demonstrate."

Smiling rather pleasantly at him, she pulled him into an upright position again, just giving him a second to see her free fist clench – before she punched him, with no obvious ill effect for her, a nasal cry coming from him as his nose broke beneath her fist.

"There", the demon smirked, still holding him tight with her other hand, watching how blood trailed down his face from his nostrils, "told you, I'd make you bleed if you didn't talk. You gonna talk now or do I have to hit you some more?"

"There's not much I can tell you!" Willy wailed in response, sounding as if he was close to tears now, "there was some guy, asking about the two of you, the witch and you, but I know nothing about him I swear!"

"What did he look like", the taller woman demanded to know, glad that they were finally getting somewhere, "come on, you must be able to tell me that."

"No", Willy whimpered, looking at her with so much fear that she found it hard not to believe him, "he… he did something, I can't remember, I swear… I'd tell you if I knew, just don't hit me again!"

It still amazed her how, after years of running a demon bar and getting beaten up for information, he still was so afraid of pain; holding back a low growl, she let go of him, and he nearly slumped down, looking as if it took all his strength and willpower to just stay on his feet.

"I wish I could tell you more, really", he reassured her, holding on to the counter with both hands, "but I really can't… he came here and he asked about the two of you, where you hang out and everything, and I told him, but that's all I can tell you…"

"Fine, I believe you", the demon grumbled after a moment, figuring that she wouldn't get much more from him, "and if he shows up again, tell him that he's welcome to meet us directly and ask anything he might want to know."

"I will, I will", Willy nodded, looking absurdly relieved about the fact that she believed him; she gave him another hard look, as a quiet reminder that she could come back anytime and dish out some more punishment, then turned and left without another look, heading back to the Magic Box, hoping that she would find it just as she had left it and that no one had shown up there to attack her partner while she had been gone.


	3. Chapter 3

"So some guy is asking for us, and afterwards, demons show up at the store to attack", Willow summed up an hour later, frowning, "can't say I like this. And that was all Willy could tell you?"

"Yes", Pat gave back, Buffy and Anya listening in silence, the Slayer frowning in dismay as well, "at least that's what he claimed. And I believed him, I'd hit him once already and he was all frightened and scared. Guy still doesn't handle pain well."

"Surprising, seeing how often he got beaten up for information", Buffy commented, "but at least we know now that there really is someone out there who's after you, and that the demon thing wasn't a coincidence. The question is, what do we do it about?"

"Not much we can do yet", Pat had to admit, even though she didn't like the thought of just sitting and waiting, "cause we don't really know much. Far as I know though, at least Willy has no idea where we live, and seeing they attacked here first, neither might whoever is after us."

"That's something", Willow mumbled, "but I'll still put up the alarm spell at home, just in case. The last thing we need is some demons in our bedroom, or that guy himself."

"Perhaps you should also put a block on Pat", Anya suggested, causing the demon to give her a confused look and prompting her to elaborate, "against the locator spell I mean? Just in case he tries to use it to find out where she is and then go there?"

"Good point", the Slayer agreed at once, Willow and Pat nodding as well, "and good thinking, Anya. And how fortunate that we are in a magic shop right now, where you'll find anything you'll need, Willow."

"Indeed", the redhead gave back with a smile, earning a wink from Buffy; she took a moment to share a brief kiss with her wife, the got up and moved to find what she'd need for the spells, the blonde meanwhile focusing on the demon, concern still in her voice as she went on.

"Alright, so soon we can keep this guy from locating you", she began, "but that won't keep him from finding out where you live. Maybe Willy doesn't know, but others do, and there are records…"

"I know", the taller woman reassured her, "and I honestly doubt that killing off his little helper demons was enough to scare him off. He'll either send someone or something else soon, or come after us personally."

"Well, let's hope he's not human", the Slayer sighed, "or, if he is, that he doesn't show up just when the spell is running out. How long does it take until Willow has to renew it?"

"Depends", the black haired woman shrugged, "on how much it has to block the chip. If I don't do anything which would set it off, it lasts forever, it just goes active when it has to keep that little piece of electronic shit from acting out."

"Good thing the coven came up with this", Buffy smiled, "at least when it comes to your chip, I don't like the thought of that magic being used on any other vampire or demon equipped with it."

"Well, only the coven and Willow know the spell", Pat shrugged, "so no danger there, I guess."

"Thank Goodness", Buffy sighed, "no idea how many blocked by those chips are still out there, but if they have them blocked like yours, they might want to catch up."

"No need to worry about that", Pat gave back, wondering briefly where this was coming from now; before she could ask Buffy though, Willow rejoined them with a bag in each hand, smiling up at the taller woman as she let her know that she had found everything she'd need.

"I'll do the spell to keep him from locating you right away", she then added, placing one of the bags on the table and peering into the other, "and once we're at home, I'll set up the alarm spell there. Buffy, want one on your house too? Our home is not the only place well known to the demons and stuff, you know."

"Unfortunately, yes", the blonde sighed, "so yeah, you'd better put one on the house as well, just to be on the safe side."

"Will do", Willow promised, "right after I put the anti-locator spell on Pat. Then we'll head to your home, cause it's closer, and then we'll move on to ours."

"And here I was thinking it would be an ordinary, calm day", the demon sighed while she down on the nearest chair, figuring she'd have to hold still for the spell, "guess it's time for some action again now that a few months passed since our adventurous honeymoon."

"I did tell you that you are never again allowed to go anywhere alone, right", Buffy wanted to know with a small laugh while Willow began readying everything she'd need for the anti-locator spell, "whenever you do that, you end up in terribly dangerous situations, and we don't even know about it until you come back and tell us. How's Charlie doing, by the way? Did she contact you?"

"Yeah, she called a few days ago", Pat let her know, making her smile slightly – they never had met, since the whole ordeal had happened in England, but still Buffy found herself glad whenever she heard that the woman was doing fine.

"She's fine", the demon now went on, "made it to Switzerland, last time we talked, and is probably gonna stay there for a while. The Shop won't have it easy to get their hands on her there."

"Good", Buffy smiled, "and you told her she can come here in case they go after her again, right?"

"Of course I did", the taller woman reassured her at once, then Willow cleared her throat and let her know that she was ready for the spell; knowing by now that any word which wasn't part of it might mess the magic up, both Buffy and Pat fell silent immediately, the redhead briefly smiling at them before she took both of her lover's hands in hers, her thumb briefly moving over the wedding band while she focused, taking in deep breaths to reach the level of concentration she'd need for the magic to be successful.

Not even daring to move a finger, Buffy and Pat watched how she reached that certain point of calmness and focus, her whole posture relaxing and her breath evening out; and then, she started chanting under her breath, barely loud enough to let the two hear, the demon holding back the urge to fidget on her chair as she listened – by now, Willow had done magic on her dozens of times, and even though her very nature had been caused by magic, as well, it still made her uncomfortable whenever a spell was cast on her directly, having by now witnessed often enough how many things could go wrong in a drastic fashion.

At least this time though, nothing went wrong; Willow finished the chanting and, the moment she opened her eyes and her fingers closed around the herbs the spell required, crushing them, bright light shot from her fist, briefly engulfing the demon and forcing her to squeeze her good eye shut, her heart beating a bit faster when she dared to open it again half a minute later and found herself looking at a smiling Willow.

"It worked, then?" she wanted to know, making the redhead nod; briefly, she wondered how she could be so sure without doing some sort of test, then, she shrugged it off, reminding herself of how powerful a witch her wife was and that someone with her level of power surely knew if a spell had worked or not, without having to do any tests to confirm it.

"Alright then", she thus simply said, not questioning her lover, "let's get moving then and take care of our homes, so whoever is after us will get a nasty little surprise in case they try to break in."

"Well, so will we then", Willow pointed out in response, gathering everything she'd need for the alert spells, "because that spell is terribly loud. So if anyone tries to break in while we sleep, we'll probably go deaf for a minute or two."

"At least it'll wake me up quickly then", the taller woman shrugged, making both Buffy and the redhead giggle as they knew very well what a morning grouch she usually was; she smirked back at them, then got up from her chair, prompting the Slayer to do the same, the blonde still taking the time to tell Anya to take care and to call them the second anything suspicious happened before they headed out, on the way to the Summers house.


	4. Chapter 4

"Dawn!" Buffy called out as she entered the house, followed by Willow and Pat, frowning when no reply came; she knew that her sister was supposed to be home from college by now, but the house remained silent, concern filling her as she glanced back at her friends, then let her gaze wander, looking for any signs of a fight.

"Dawn?" she tried again, from the corner of her noticing how by now, the demon was looking as well, her eye just as trained for signs of struggle as hers; if she saw anything out of the ordinary though, she kept it to herself, merely tensing up slightly, just enough to let both the Slayer and the witch notice.

"We better check upstairs", Buffy suggested, "maybe she's just in her room, listening to music, and that's why she can't hear."

Nodding, Willow gave her a calming smile, then the three of them moved upstairs; just like in the ground floor, there was no sign for a struggle or even a fight anywhere, the only thing which was out of the ordinary was a single sock lying on the hallway between the stairs and Dawn's room, the demon raising an eyebrow at it as she moved past it, but not making a comment about it.

"Dawn", the blonde called out for a third time, now unable to keep a hint of concern out of her voice; briefly, Willow placed one hand on her arm in a silent gesture of reassurance, then they had reached the younger woman's room, neither of them really surprised to find it empty, even though it only caused their worries to grow.

"Her backpack's here", Pat once more demonstrated that she had quite the keen eye for detail whenever situations were getting unpleasant, "so she got home from college okay. And from what I can tell, there's been no fight going on in here…"

"If she went to see a friend without leaving a note or something, she's in trouble", Buffy grumbled in response, giving her best to sound annoyed, but fooling neither the witch, nor the demon; Willow just gave her another reassuring look in reply, then they headed out of the room again and made their way back downstairs, the redhead stopping dead in her tracks when she was the first one to notice that the door leading to the cellar wasn't fully closed, but slightly ajar, just enough to let her see it from the angle of view she had from the bottom of the stairs.

"Buffy", she mumbled, just loud enough for the blonde and her wife to hear, nodding at the door when they both looked at her; frowning, Buffy tried to remember when she had gone down there the last time and if she had closed the door after that, then jumped when a low rumbling sound came through the narrow slit, her eyes going wide a second later as she recognized it.

Without bothering to explain, she rushed off, pulling the door open fully and hurrying down the stairs; surprised, the witch and the demon exchanged a startled look before they followed her, both of them stopping dead in their tracks though when they had made their way down the wooden stairs far enough to see what was going on.

Next to the washing machine, which was in the middle of the rather loud spin cycle, Dawn was standing, staring at her sister in confusion as Buffy came storming towards her; stopping in front of her, the smaller blonde placed her hands on her hips, glaring up at her, only making her look even more confused as she clearly had no idea what was going on.

"I thought something happened to you!" Buffy scolded, clearly not perturbed by the fact that by now, Dawn was almost a full head taller, "you didn't answer when we called for you! And you're doing laundry? When was the last time you did laundry?"

"I didn't hear you, the machine's too loud", Dawn pointed out in reply, clearly having no idea why her sister was reacting so upset, "and I had to do laundry cause you didn't do it, and I wore my last clean shirt today. What's the problem, anyway?"

"There's a new big bad in town", Willow was the one to answer that, "so far, he only seems to be after me, or at least the demons he hired just went for me, until Pat started doing some serious damage to them… but that doesn't mean he won't go after the people close to me."

"And that's why we are here in the first place", Buffy added before the brunette had the chance to reply anything, "Willow's gonna do the alarm spell on our house, just in case that weirdo gets any ideas about breaking in while we sleep or something."

"Alright", Dawn gave back, not all too disturbed by the thought of someone going after her closest friends; with any other girl her age, this would have been worrisome, but after all she had been through already, this was just another day in the life for her, yet another challenge she was sure her sister and friends would handle, as they so far had handled anything else which had been thrown their way.

"I'll make it so that none of us will set it off", Willow explained while the washing machine finally stopped spinning and Dawn began to move the laundry to the dryer, Buffy helping after a moment, the sounds of disbelief and annoyance which came from the brunette at finding a sock missing making Pat snicker quietly as she knew just where it was, "that way, we can all enter and leave your house without needing to worry about it. Anyone else though will set it off, so keep that in mind before you bring someone home with you, alright?"

"No more after college orgies with the guys and girls from my Art class, got it", Dawn replied, completely straight faced, even though the corners of her mouth twitched when Buffy let out a strangely squeaky sound in response, needing another moment to realize that her sister was joking, a stern expression replacing her shocked one a second later.

"Not funny", she then told her, shooting a dirty look in Pat's direction when the taller woman commented that she had found it pretty funny, not bothering to comment though, but merely focusing on Dawn again, sounding a bit friendlier when she told her to keep the spell in mind before she'd invite anyone to their home.

"And you", she then decided that a verbal reaction was necessary to the black haired woman's support of her sister's humour after all, "don't tell her that it's funny when she says stuff like that! You'll only encourage her!"

"So?" Pat wanted to know in response, clearly not seeing the problem; Buffy just rolled her eyes as an answer while Willow let out a giggle, the blonde giving her a stern look as well before she turned and marched back upstairs, muttering under her breath about certain demons being a bad influence on her little sister and skilfully ignoring the smirk said demon had on her face, the little banter helping them all to at least momentarily forget about the new threat still out there.


	5. Chapter 5

"Let's hope Dawn keeps the spell in mind", Pat commented an hour later, as they arrived at their home; setting said spell up around the Summers' house had worked out just fine, and even though the demon was slightly worried about Willow doing so much magic again so shortly afterwards, she kept those concerns to herself, telling herself that surely, the witch knew what she was doing – and that the spell would be easier for their home to do, since it didn't need to be done around the whole building, but merely for the door and windows.

"Indeed", the redhead agreed as they stepped into the elevator together, pressing the button for the second floor before she turned to face her wife again, "just imagine how startled they're all gonna be otherwise. The poor students might be shocked for life if a hellishly loud bell starts ringing out of nowhere."

With a small chuckle, Pat nodded, her obvious amusement about this mental image prompting Willow to raise an eyebrow before she smiled as well; they took the time to share a brief kiss, then the elevator reached the second floor and the doors slid open, the couple stepping outside and making their way to their apartment together.

"You know", the redhead commented as they walked side by side, while the taller woman dug out the apartment keys, "I was really glad that you'd come along to the Magic Box when those demons attacked. I love our kid dearly, but by now, I'm showing so much that fighting is quite difficult."

In response, the demon's gaze flickered down to her lover's belly, a smile curling her lips as she reached out with her free hand, by now holding the keys in the other, and tenderly ran her fingers over the by now quite prominent bulge, the gentle touch making Willow smile as well, and once more giving her a chance to be happy about how well all of this was working out now, after the taller woman's initial less than positive reaction to the news of her pregnancy.

"Well", the black haired woman now said, distracting her from those ponderings and pulling back her hand while she unlocked the door, "I'm glad to hear that, cause you better get used to having me around, now that there's some new maniac out there going after us. I won't leave you out of my sight if I can help it until we took that guy down."

"That does make me feel better", Willow reassured her, smiling up at her while they entered their home and they both took off their shoes and jacket, "but, before you become all reckless again and get yourself hurt, remember that I have a healing factor now, too, alright?"

"Yeah I know", Pat replied, giving her a strict look afterwards, "but don't get too used to that, as soon as our kid is born, it'll be gone again. Unlike mine."

"I know", the witch replied with a small sigh, having to admit that knowing about her now exceptionally fast healing rate made their rather dangerous lives quite a bit easier to handle, "that's a real pity. But, well, as long as I have it, keep in mind that it's there and don't risk life and limb to protect me, alright?"

"I'll try to keep that in mind", the demon replied, earning another sigh from her partner, the redhead knowing very well that this was the best she'd get from her stubborn lover, "but you do know I tend to react kinda on instinct whenever you are in danger."

"I'm aware of that, and while it's very sweet, it's also dangerous", she still pointed out, even though they had had this discussion a dozen times by now, usually after Pat had gotten herself hurt yet again in an attempt to protect her from the same fate, "but I know you can't promise anything else, so I'm not gonna push this."

"Thank you", Pat replied sincerely, making Willow smile slightly; standing on the tips of her toes, the redhead stole a quick kiss from her, then told her that she'd start the spell for the door now, making her nod in response before she took a few steps back, giving her wife room to move.

After another short smile at her, Willow did just that, bringing out the bag with the powdered ingredients she'd need for the spell; she carefully drew a line from wall to wall in front of the door with it, making sure there were no gaps in it before she took a step back and began the spell, mumbling the words under her breath, nodding in satisfaction when right after the last one, the powder briefly began to glow, then vanished.

"Door's done", she then told Pat, turning to look at her, "now just the windows and we're all set. Then we can rest easily, at least until the alarm goes off."

"If that alarm wakes me up, it'll just be another reason to punch the guy", the demon grumbled, making her wife giggle slightly while she nodded; and after a moment, Pat smiled as well, briefly pulling her close for another kiss before they moved on so she could put the spell on the areas in front of the windows, both of them knowing that they would rest easier once the alert magic would be finished for their home.

* * *

When Willow woke up in the next morning, her first emotion was relief that the spell hadn't gone off, signalling that nothing out of the ordinary had happened during the night; and moments later, relief was followed by surprise as she found Pat's side of the bed empty, an occurrence so rare that it momentarily startled her.

Momentarily, she even found herself wondering if perhaps, something was wrong after all, finding herself unable to remember when it had happened the last time that the demon had gotten up before her; then, she heard noises from the kitchen and smiled to herself as she realized that everything was just fine, getting out of bed moments later, pulling on her comfortable morning robe before she moved on to the kitchen, Pat greeting her with a smile and a kiss the moment she entered.

"Morning", the taller woman mumbled after the kiss, pulling her close, "slept well?"

"Oh yes", Willow reassured at once, "good morning to you, too, and did you sleep well? Why are you up already?"

"Don't know", Pat shrugged, "one of the few days in each year I get up before you? I used the time well though and got started on breakfast."

"A rare event indeed", the witch teased, making her lover chuckle, "and a good thing it happened today, too."

"Yup", the taller woman agreed, immediately knowing what her wife was talking about – during the last two months, Willow had started tutoring Dawn and a few of the brunette's fellow students, the small group of five meeting once a week for two hours and lunch afterwards, with Pat going to a café near the campus library in the meantime and joining them again when it was time for eating.

At first, the witch remembered with a slight smile as she watched her partner turn back to preparing breakfast, the two of them had been a small sensation among the study group, the married gay couple with one of the wives being one-eyed and the other pregnant; they had gotten used to it fast enough though, and by now, no one even batted an eye anymore when the demon joined them for lunch.

"How's the studying going, anyway", the taller woman now wanted to know, prompting Willow to focus on her again, "making progress?"

"Yes", the redhead confirmed, noticing that the ham and eggs, one of the few dishes her lover was capable of making without putting them in danger of food poisoning, were about to be ready and thus moving to ready plates and cutlery, "they are doing really well, Samantha actually told me that it works better with me as a tutor than with the official college tutor. Let's hope it stays that way."

"Of course it will", the demon gave back at once, yet again demonstrating an unwavering belief in her wife's abilities and intelligence, "you're smart, and you're good at explaining things. Honestly, I'm still surprised you don't want to teach once you're ready to start working."

"Because I have terrible stage fright", Willow reminded her of that not unimportant fact, "it's alright to talk to a group of five, but standing in front of a whole lecture hall? Nuh-uh."

"Good point", Pat had to admit, "but it's a pity, really. You'd be an amazing teacher, I'm sure. You have the kindness and patience for it, unlike me."

"You wouldn't need patience to teach", the witch gave back with a small giggle, "remember, half of the campus was scared of you when I still went there. They wouldn't dare to be loud and disruptive when you're teaching."

"Another good point", the taller woman agreed with a slight laugh, making her wife smile as well, her smile only widening when Pat placed a tender hand on her stomach, a twinkle of mischief in her eye as she went on. "Perhaps this'll be helpful when we raise the little rascal in there. If he or she gets just a bit of my character, that'll be one lively kid. I was such a pest when I was little."

"I don't find it difficult to imagine that", the redhead giggled, earning a snort from her lover, "but anyway, I doubt our kid will be scared of you. Especially not if you spoil him or her silly, and I'm quite sure you'll do just that."

"Hmph", the black haired woman let out in reply, clearly not having any other answer though, making her wife giggle yet again; and after a moment, she smiled again, as well, allowing herself to ignore the new threat somewhere out there for a few seconds so she could merely bask in her happiness, once more realizing fully how amazingly lucky she was to have this wonderful woman in her life.


	6. Chapter 6

"We should be done in two hours, as usual", Willow told Pat quite some time later, as they stood in front of the café, "if it takes longer, I'll just call you. You got your phone, right?"

"Course I do", the taller woman reassured her, then bent down for a brief, but tender kiss, telling her to have fun afterwards; smiling, the redhead wished her the same, then told her to say hi to the barista for her before their ways parted, the witch heading to the library a few buildings from the café while the demon made her way inside said café, the man behind the counter giving her a happy smile the moment he spotted her.

"Punctual as always", he greeted her, his delight easily explained – apart from her, there was only one other person in the café, something she blamed on the fact that most students, who made up the biggest chunk of the café's demographic, were still having classes or meeting for study groups at this time of the day, and from the way the barista, a young man named Rick, had looked when she had entered, he'd been close to being bored senseless.

"Course", she told him as she made her way to the counter and casually leaned against it, "can't let you die of boredom in here now, can I. Want me to order something else than my usual today so you'll have a bit of a challenge?"

"Unless you make up a completely new drink on the spot, nothing on the menu is a challenge anymore", he sighed theatrically in reply, making her laugh; he smirked back at her, then moved to make the coffee she'd always ordered the last few weeks, strong and with just a splash of milk, but an ungodly amount of sugar.

"You know you'll get diabetes some day from that", Rick pointed out while he prepared it, momentarily causing her smile to falter; ever since she had started coming here, a tentative friendship had started to form between him and her, the young man appreciating and enjoying her dry and sometimes dark humour while she had quickly warmed up to his easy-going view on life, but so far, he had no idea about her true nature, didn't even know that Willow was a witch and was most likely blissfully unaware of the fact that he lived in a town filled to the brim with all sorts of supernatural creatures.

"No worries about that, mate", she thus just said, not adding any explanation about why she wasn't worried; smirking, Rick merely shrugged in reply, then finished her coffee with a flourish and handed it to her, not surprised when she already had the payment ready, as usual telling him to keep the change.

"So how's your wife doing?" Rick wanted to know after she had taken the first sip of her drink and had nodded her approval, "everything okay with the kid?"

"At the last check-up, yes", Pat let him know, "next one's scheduled for next week. And no, before you ask, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet. We told the doc not to tell us."

"Aww", Rick let out, sounding so disappointed that she just had to chuckle; she shrugged, smirked and raised her coffee cup as if in salute, and that was when the world around her exploded, fire and smoke and shattering glass and screams destroying the peaceful, happy moment.

* * *

She was out on the sidewalk and she didn't know how she had gotten there – that was the first thing she realized as she laid there, unable to hear anything else than the hellish ringing in her ears, unable to decide which part of her body hurt the most.

An unarticulated noise she couldn't even hear came from her as she tried to struggle to her feet, managing to do so after the third or fourth try, staggering blindly down the sidewalk, not even noticing that she was bleeding from numerous wounds and that one arm dangled uselessly down her side.

Up ahead, there were people, she noticed now, belatedly; they were gesturing and pointing and talking to each other, but she still couldn't hear anything; she wasn't sure what had happened, but it had been loud, so dreadfully loud, and her ears were still ringing, and there was so much pain everywhere.

Among the civilians, she now saw members of the campus police as well, one of them frantically talking into his radio while a few others tried to keep the gawking students away from the burning building; said building was not as far behind her as she had thought it would be when she somehow managed to turn to look at it, prompting her to dully wonder how long it had taken her to take those few steps and how much time had passed since everything had been blown to pieces all around her.

With the small part of her mind that still worked rationally, Pat realized that it would be smarter to walk away from the burning café instead of towards it; and thus, she laboriously turned again, just in time to see that one of the gawking students had decided to take action and was hurrying towards her now, ignoring the way the campus police was waving at him and most likely shouting, as well, judging from how their lips were moving frantically.

Thanks to the fact that none of them chased after him though and tried to stop him, he reached her a few seconds later, stopping in front of her; by now, the ringing in her ears had subsided somewhat, not enough to let her understand everything he was saying, but enough to let her figure out what he wanted from her.

"…okay…", was one of the words she could make out, followed by some more she didn't quite get, along with some reassuring nods and even smiles; she tried to talk to him in response, tried to tell him that there had been other people inside, people they had to get out, but all that left her mouth was a strange mixture of coughing and garbled nonsense, making her sound as if she was dead drunk.

And then, she forgot all about him as a flash of red caught her eye in the distance, a second, closer look confirming that it was Willow, her facial expression, a mixture of fear and rage, showing that she was yelling at one of the campus cops while pointing at her; for a few more moments, the man looked as if he wanted to keep her from going near her, even raising his hands in an attempt to calm her down, but it was of no use, and after another angry exclamation aimed at him, the redhead simply moved past him, one glare being enough to stop him mid-movement when he tried to reach for her.

Part of her wanted nothing else than to just wait for Willow to reach her and then simply fall forward, into her calming, loving and warm embrace; the rational part was still there though, aware enough to realize that this was potentially dangerous, something she tried to tell the redhead as she was running towards her, her own feet shuffling tiredly over the sidewalk in an attempt to put some more distance between the burning building and herself.

"No, go away", the demon wanted to tell her, just three simple and short words; what came out of her mouth sounded though as if she was talking through a handful of mud, only making sense to her, the man who had approached her first still by her side and giving her a confused look, something she didn't even notice as she was fully focused on her partner.

"…be okay", she now heard Willow say through the ringing in her ears as the smaller woman had almost reached her, her vision blurring as the shock finally caught up with her fully; still she took another step, then her legs gave in beneath her and she went down, letting out another unarticulated noise as the witch caught her and kept her from hitting the ground, her tight embrace being the last thing she felt as the darkness took firm hold of her again.


	7. Chapter 7

When Pat came back around, she was flat on her back, lying on something soft, but not all too steady as she felt it move beneath her; only a few seconds later, she realized that she was in an ambulance, the sound of the siren mixing with the whistling tone in her ears and the voice of the man sitting next to the stretcher she was lying on, telling whoever else was there that she had come back around.

"Pat, Sweetie", she heard Willow next, before the witch moved into her field of view by bending over her; she felt how the redhead grasped her hand, thankfully the one attached to the arm which's nerves were not screaming in agony by now, "you'll be okay, we'll take you to the hospital and I promise you'll be okay…"

Momentarily, the demon wanted to protest, remind her of her healing abilities and that all she had to do was stand up and change; then, she remembered that there were other people in the vehicle with them, and that there had been people witnessing her stumbling around dazed and injured, her mind by now working well enough again to let her realize that simply healing wouldn't be an option this time, at least not right away.

"She might not be fully aware yet", the medic now told her wife, a statement she blamed on her lack of response to the redhead's words, "but don't be concerned, that's normal after such… an incident, she might have a concussion and react slower than usual…"

"…happened", Pat brought out, glad that her ability to speak seemed to slowly come back; her whole body hurt, some parts more than others, but none of them seemed to be without pain, but at least, she could talk to her wife now without sounding as if she was completely wasted.

"I'm not sure", Willow replied, giving her hand a tender squeeze, the concern in her eyes making the demon wonder how bad she actually looked; now that the shock was fading, she could feel blood drying on her face, chest and stomach, along with sticky wetness at her back, dully wondering how badly exactly she had gotten hurt when whatever had happened had occurred.

"The policeman said something about a gas leak", the witch now went on, "there was an explosion, in the back of the café, the kitchen…"

She didn't tell her what else the campus cop had said, that she'd been the only one to get out of it alive, and that, despite her numerous injuries, she'd been lucky – from what he had deduced, the force of the explosion had thrown her through the glass front and out onto the sidewalk, where she had been relatively safe from the fire which had spread after the explosion and the falling chunks of debris inside the building.

"You're going to be fine", Willow now told her, distracting herself from the thoughts of what might have happened if Pat hadn't gone through the glass, but had hit the metal doorframe instead, or if she had landed just slightly differently, ending up breaking her back or neck; squeezing the taller woman's hand again, she forced herself not to think of such dreadful scenarios anymore, telling herself that these What If's didn't matter and that soon, her wife would be on her feet and perfectly fine again.

"We'll be at the hospital in a minute", the medic now told her, making her glance at him, "I know you'll want to stay with her, but we have to take her to the emergency room right away…"

"Of course", Willow gave back at once, feeling how Pat's fingers tightened slightly around hers, prompting her to give her a hopefully reassuring and calming look; briefly, she had to fight the urge to lean over and run her hand over the taller woman's hair, not wanting to hurt her even further with all that blood on her face and no idea where it was coming from, her heart clenching up as she saw the fear in the black haired woman's gaze.

 _No surprise she's scared,_ she then realized, nearly smacking herself as she had to ask herself how it could have taken her so long to figure out what was going on, especially considering how well she knew the demon and her added knowledge about the workings of the human mind, _it must have been ages since she had to go to the hospital… It's been bad enough for her when she had to go there cause one of us got hurt, but now that she's the injured one…_

"It'll be alright", she whispered, keeping her voice down so the medic wouldn't hear what exactly she was saying, "I promise, they're gonna take you to the emergency room to treat you and then, I'll be right there when they're done…"

"Promise", the taller woman muttered in reply, for once not trying to hide her fear, finding herself unable to with all the pain she was in; giving her another reassuring smile, her wife nodded in reply, squeezing her hand yet again, neither of them noticing how the medic smiled slightly as she replied, just loud enough this time to let him understand what she was saying. "I promise. Once they're done treating you, I'll be there, and I won't leave your side until you get better."

To her relief, Pat managed a weak smile in reply, her grip on her hand loosening slightly again; she still had time to give her another smile, then the ambulance car came to a halt and she had to let go of her partner's hand and move back so the medics could do their work again, her eyes never leaving the taller woman's as she once more silently reassured her that she'd be okay.

* * *

Right after Pat had been taken to the emergency room, Willow had called her best friend and had told her what had happened; Buffy, in turn, had called Xander, who had called Giles, and not even twenty minutes after the redhead had hung up the phone, the whole group came rushing into the waiting room, causing her to get up from her seat in surprise and delight, the Slayer giving her a brief smile as she moved to her side, then pulling her into an embrace, concern in her voice when she asked if there were any news already.

"No", the witch replied with a small sigh, sitting back down and prompting the rest of the group to do the same, "it might take a while, she looked really bad, but at least she could talk to me in the ambulance… you should have seen her right afterwards, she couldn't even get out a sentence…"

"No surprise", Xander murmured, sitting down next to her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, "from what I heard, well… it was quite nasty."

"I only saw the aftermath", the redhead gave back, swallowing heavily as various dreadful scenarios began playing in her mind again, no matter how hard she tried to stop them, "the study group was meeting again, you know the one with Dawn, and just when we were about to get started, we heard this big explosion in the distance. We went to look, and, well…"

She trailed off, not sure how to continue, finding herself unable to describe how she had felt when she had arrived there, had seen that the destroyed building was the one her partner had entered, how the sight had made her feel as if someone had suckerpunched her right in the gut and knocked all the air right out of her lungs. And then, it only had gotten worse, when she had seen her wife, staggering blindly down the sidewalk, blood pouring down her face from numerous cuts, not reacting the slightest when she called out to her; her first instinct had been to run to her, only to have one of the campus cops try to stop her, something he hadn't been very successful with though, quickly giving in when he had to face her rage.

"Some guy was trying to talk to her by the time I'd made it there", she mumbled, more to herself than to her friends, "she didn't react much to him, but when I approached her, she tried to tell me that I should go away. She'd been hurt and was in shock, but she still knew it wasn't safe and tried to send me away…"

"Of course she did", Buffy was the one to answer that, making her best friend smile weakly, "it'll take more than an explosion to keep her from looking out for you, no matter what happens to her."

The door opened before the redhead could reply anything to that, and for a moment, she hoped it might be the doctor, here to tell her that her lover would be alright; instead though, it was Dawn, the brunette looking worried and upset as she almost stormed into the waiting room, demanding to know if Pat was alright.

"She will be", Willow answered, managing another weak smile for her sake, "you know how stubborn she is, a few injuries are not gonna stop her for long. Especially considering there's still a guy after us somewhere out there."

"Perhaps this incident is related to this mysterious man", Giles pointed out, making them all look at him, their surprise prompting him to raise an eyebrow before he shook his head.

"Please", he then went on, incredulous, giving the witch a questioning look, "none of you thought of this? Some stranger sends demons to attack you at the Magic Box after he has been asking around about the two of you, and then, a day after this attack, a place Pat visits regularly, at the same time each week, gets blown up?"

"They said it was a gas leak", Buffy pointed out, surprised yet again when the normally so composed Brit let out a snort in response.

"Of course", he then replied, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice, prompting Willow to raise an eyebrow as she couldn't help but wonder if he was channelling her wife now, "just like all the deaths caused by these pesky gangs on PCP."

"Good point", Willow had to admit, "and you are right, she has been going there regularly for the last two months… but how would he know? Willi doesn't know that, I don't think anyone outside our group does, so he must have been watching us to know… but if he did that, he'd know where we live, all of us, so why ask around then?"

"He might have his reasons", Giles replied, with a little shrug, "and perhaps, he spoke to someone else. Someone who might not be aware of the happenings in this town and think nothing of it."

"Possible", Willow had to admit, not liking the thought much; before she could ponder this further though, the door opened yet again and the doctor finally did enter the room, looking momentarily surprised at the number of people there before he regained his focus and asked for Mrs Rosenberg.

Rising from her seat in response, the redhead gave him a nervous look, waiting for him to go on; he pointedly glanced at her friends in response, forcing her to hold back a hint of annoyance as she told him that they were all close friends and could hear whatever he had to say.

"First, let me tell you that your wife is soon going to be alright", he told her in response, not letting it show if this was an unorthodox situation for him, "I know it might not seem like it right now, but she was very lucky. The most serious injury is the broken arm, and she sprained her shoulder when she hit the sidewalk. Apart from that, there's bruising and cuts of course, but those will heal up just fine."

"I want to see her", Willow let him know in response, her relief about those words clearly showing through her expression and voice; next to her, Buffy smiled slightly at her wording, remembering a time when the witch shyly would have asked if she could see her partner, instead of simply demanding it, but clearly, those days were over, the shy girl Willow had been when they had met long gone, replaced by the self-confident woman she was now.

"Of course", the doctor gave back at once, "just follow me please. A word of warning though, your partner might still be slightly… dazed, for lack of a better word, there's no brain damage, but she did take quite the blow to the head."

Not sure what to respond to that, Willow just nodded; the doctor gave her a brief smile, then once more asked her to follow him before he turned and left the room, the witch heading after him while the rest of the gang stayed behind, the atmosphere in the waiting room much more peaceful and calm now that they knew for sure one of their closest friends would be alright again soon.


	8. Chapter 8

Right after the explosion and in the ambulance car, Willow had found herself unable to figure out how bad exactly the cuts and bruises were, with all the blood streaming from them and obscuring them from view; now though, she was able to get an almost too good look at them as the blood had been washed off, some of the deeper and bigger cuts closed with stitches while others merely had been covered up.

To her relief though, the taller woman was awake and apparently aware, as she glanced at her when she entered and even managed a weak smile; smiling back at her, Willow moved over to the bed, taking note of the cast now enclosing her partner's left arm, and even though it hurt her to see her like that, she knew that she indeed had been lucky and that things could have ended much worse.

"Hey", she greeted her partner in a soft voice, smiling at her as she sat down on the edge of the bed, not bothering with the chair the hospital had provided for visitors, "how are you feeling?"

"Drowsy", Pat mumbled in response, her speech to the concern of the witch still a bit slurred, but much clearer than it had been right after the incident, "they gave me a painkiller cause my arm felt really bad and my head too and everything and now I got clouds in my head."

"Obviously", the redhead gave back with another smile, knowing that it wasn't nice to be amused by the black haired woman's painkiller-induced rambling, but unable to help herself, "but at least you're not in any pain…"

"Arm still hurts", the demon told her in response, sounding even drowsier now than she had when Willow had entered, the painkiller clearly doing its job, "want to change. Heal."

"Not now", Willow shook her head at once, "later. You need to get some rest first, make sure your body can handle the change. Sleep off the painkiller and recover a bit, and at night, you can heal. It'll be easier to leave then, too, we can hardly sneak you out of here in broad daylight."

To her relief, her reasoning made sense to the taller woman despite her woozy state; she managed a weak nod, looking as if she was close to drifting off into sleep – when her good eye suddenly snapped open again and she startled Willow by all at once grabbing her arm with surprising strength, a bit more clarity in her voice as she spoke up again.

"Stay", she told the redhead, her grip loosening a bit as the painkiller overrode her sudden surge of strength, "don't go anywhere, please… that guy…"

"…is still out there, I know", Willow finished her, knowing that this wasn't the only reason Pat wanted her to stay, but deciding to not embarrass her with it and thus keeping silent about it, "I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry. Get some rest now, and I'll be right here when you wake up."

"Alright", the demon mumbled, sounding drowsy again, "good… not gonna let him hurt you…"

"I know", the witch reassured her, then bent over her to tenderly kiss her on the forehead; this brought another weak smile to the taller woman's face, then she finally lost the battle against the painkiller and drifted off into sleep, soon snoring softly, the noise making the redhead smile fondly as she remembered how often it had kept her awake at night when she had started spending the nights at the apartment, back when it still had been only Pat's home and not their shared one, and how she had gotten used to it in the end, now not even hearing it anymore.

The sound of the door opening behind her distracted her from those memories, and she glanced over, momentarily wondering what she would do if it'd be the man who was after them, how she'd handle him without letting her lover get injured further; then, her gaze fell on Buffy and she smiled, the blonde smiling back at her as she entered the room, making sure to close the door quietly when she heard the snoring and saw Pat fast asleep.

"How is she?" she wanted to know, keeping her voice down to a whisper; glad that she could give relatively good news, Willow's smile widened slightly as she replied, the Slayer moving over to her while she did so, making sure they could talk in lowered voices and wouldn't wake the demon up.

"She'll be fine", the redhead told her best friend, "actually, I think she'll demon out first chance she gets and heal all this. I told her to do it at night though, so we can get her out of here easier, without anyone noticing."

"Good thinking", Buffy nodded, not really surprised by this, "let's hope everything heals just fine, the doctor talked to us after you left and told us she should avoid loud noises for a while. He used some fancy medical lingo to say why exactly, but I didn't remember any of that."

"Well, it makes sense", the witch gave back, with another look at her lover, a mix of warmth and concern, "she was right there when the café blew up, right in the middle of it… The doctor was right when he said that she was lucky. I'm just surprised he mentioned nothing about why she has no burns, there was a lot of fire after all."

"He's a Sunnydale doctor", Buffy reminded her in response, "he probably has seen stranger things than someone having no burns after surviving an explosion. People dying of neck trauma, for example."

"Good point", Willow had to admit with a small laugh, a noise she kept down, still wary about waking her wife, "and I'll tell her about the noise thing, just in case it doesn't heal right away when the rest does…"

"Just to be on the safe side", the Slayer nodded in response, earning the same gesture from her best friend; and then, without another word, the blonde comfortably settled into the one available chair while the witch remained sitting on the edge of the bed, no words necessary for them to settle that Buffy would stay right there, looking out for both the witch and the demon until the taller woman could heal and get back on her feet, making sure that whoever was after them wouldn't have the chance to make use of her weakened state and bring them even more pain and suffering.


	9. Chapter 9

"Alright, careful now", Willow said hours later, hovering near the bed as she watched with a worried frown how her wife got out of it, still a bit wobbly on her feet, "the painkiller can't have worn off yet, and I'm not sure that your healing will… flush it from your system, so make sure you don't end up flat on your face!"

"Course", Pat gave back, fighting the urge to grab the bedframe for support, knowing that Willow would send her right back to bed the moment she did so; and with that unknown threat still out there, she didn't want to spend a second longer injured and not on top of her game, thus keeping the fact that her feet weren't all too willing to carry her yet well hidden as she took a step away from the bed, not wanting to set it on fire on accident during her change.

"Step back", she advised the smaller woman after another moment, since the redhead was still rather close to her, "the last thing we need to happen now is that I burn you on accident."

Having to admit that this was true, Willow moved back a few steps, making sure though that she could grab her in time just in case her legs should give in beneath her after all; without even noticing, she held her breath as the taller woman began the change, having to keep herself from jumping forward when for a few moments, it looked as if the demon might end up going down after all, staggering as she grit teeth which now were sharp and pointed, clenching her fists as she forced herself to remain upright.

With a low grunt, she finished the change, pain flooding her body as all her cuts and bruises and the broken bone in her arm began to heal; there was a brief twinge of pain in her ears, something she barely noticed among all the other aches though, and then the numerous wounds began to close, a heavy breath of relief coming from her as she felt them heal, the wooziness the painkillers had brought vanishing along with them.

"There", she grumbled as she felt the break heal last, "much better. Painkiller's been flushed, too."

"Good to know", Willow gave back, smiling slightly as she watched her partner change back, "that will make getting you out of here undetected much easier."

Letting out a vaguely agreeing noise, Pat accepted the fresh clothes Xander had brought by earlier that day, neither wanting to move through Sunnydale in the hospital gown, nor in the clothing she had been wearing when the explosion had happened, not bothering to move into the bathroom to change since only the witch was present in the room, Buffy keeping watch outside in the hallway to make sure no nurse or doctor would try to enter the room while the taller woman was using her demonic side to heal her injuries.

"Alright", she stated as soon as she had finished getting dressed, pulling on her leather jacket as she spoke, "let's get out of here. That guy's still out there somewhere, and I feel like a sitting duck in this hospital, it's just not safe."

"No, it's not", Willow agreed, having to admit that she had felt the same way for the past few hours, having wondered what they would do, should the man show up to threaten them while Pat still had been fast asleep; now, at least, the demon had healed, but she still felt uncomfortable, fighting the urge to glance around nervously as she opened the door, nodding at the questioning look Buffy shot her.

"I overheard a few nurses talking", the blonde told her in a low voice as the witch and her partner left the room together, "they're gonna make their rounds in a few minutes, so we better be quick."

"Off we go then", Willow agreed at once, "let's take the emergency exit, I should be able to shorten out the alarm long enough so we can get out without setting it off."

Momentarily, she felt bad about this, knowing that there was a reason why this alarm was there in the first place; then, she forced those concerns aside though, telling herself that getting out of the hospital and to the relative safety of their apartment was more important, and that she'd only kill it for a few minutes anyway, just long enough to let them get away without causing a ruckus that would make the whole hospital come running.

 _Focus,_ she told herself as she headed for the emergency exit with her best friend and her wife, _you'll need just a bit of magic to do this, but you don't want to mess that up._

Taking in deep breaths, she calmed herself on the way, feeling confident and secure of her skills by the time they arrived at the door; she took a moment to glance around, making sure no one was there to see them, then raised her eyes to the not very inconspicuous alarm mechanism, her brow furrowing as she focused her will on it, the light which signalled that the alarm was working flickering moments later, then dying fully, the weak green glow fading away to nothingness.

"Quickly", she mumbled, already pushing the door open, "I'm not sure how long this is going to work."

She briefly glanced behind herself to make sure Pat and Buffy were following her, then hurried down the stairs, the two women right behind her; and not even a minute later, they stepped out of the building, relieved that no one had noticed them – the people of Sunnydale usually were pretty good at rationalizing away supernatural happenings, or ignoring them if rational thought couldn't find a way, however outrageous, to deal with them, but still there might have been questions, and none of them was in the mood to deal with them.

"You gonna get home alright?" Buffy wanted to know once they had walked a safe distance from the hospital, "I'd walk you home just to make sure, but, well, I'd rather get back to Dawn quickly…"

"We'll be alright", Pat told her in response, before Willow could say anything, "head on home, we'll call you when we arrive at our place."

"Alright", Buffy nodded, unable to hide her relief, "and take care."

They both reassured her that they would, making her give them another smile before she turned and headed off; they looked after her for a moment, then got moving again as well, eager to get to their home and find some safety and rest there before they'd focus on the current situation yet again.

* * *

They had found their home just as they had left it in the morning, a time which seemed impossibly far away now after everything which had happened during the day; since the hospital food hadn't been all too tasty, Pat had opted for a proper dinner before going to bed, and after they had had that, they had moved straight to the bedroom, both of them fast asleep now, the only sound being the snores of the demon as she laid sprawled on her back, the witch snuggled up to her and sleeping just as deeply, but much more quietly.

Even if the taller woman hadn't been snoring, they wouldn't have heard how the apartment door was unlocked, the lock pick barely making a sound as skilled hands worked it, a low click signalling that the attempt had been successful. The door swung open silently, but the moment the man in the hallway moved one foot over the threshold, the alarm spell went off, just as it had been supposed to; the sound, aptly described by Willow as hellishly loud bell, echoed through the whole building, startling every single tenant out of bed while the man retreated to the hallway, gritting his teeth in frustration.

In the bedroom, Willow nearly fell as she scrambled to sit up, then get out of bed, her heart racing in her chest after being torn out of her dreams so harshly; disoriented and confused, her gaze darted through the room as she tried to figure out what was going on, belatedly realizing what had happened, her pulse reaching new heights as she tried to look at all the windows and doors at once, suddenly sure that any moment, someone would burst into the room and attack them.

As she stood there, trying to see a possible attacker before they might see her, she also had to realize one of the downsides of the spell – it had worked just as intended, but still was blaring through the quiet night, not only attracting unwanted attention, but also keeping her from hearing if anyone was approaching the bedroom from the bath- or living room, the uncertainty about what was going on worse than the definite knowledge that someone was just about to attack them.

Still, she focused on her magic, the air around her fingers crackling as she called up one of the nastier offensive spells, ready to unleash it the moment someone would step into the room; confident that on her side of the bed, her partner was getting ready to fight, as well, she glanced over at her, only to nearly set the magic off involuntarily the blink of an eye later as her gaze fell on the demon, the taller woman cringing next to the bed, both hands pressed against her ears, her good eye squeezed shut and her teeth grit so hard that the jaw muscles were working visibly beneath the skin.

Too late, the witch remembered what Buffy had told her at the hospital, the doctor's advice about avoiding loud noises for a while; she started moving towards her just as the alarm spell died down again, but before she had taken more than two steps, she finally did hear someone approach the bedroom, freezing on the spot, momentarily torn between making sure her lover was okay and focusing on whoever was coming for them now.

 _Take care of the intruder first,_ she then told herself, _if you let him take you out, too, you won't be able to help her at all, but if you can handle this, it'll be alright…_

Even though she felt as if she was abandoning her partner, she forced herself to turn away from her again, the air crackling yet again as she conjured up energy; and the moment the man stepped into the bedroom, she let the magic go, a satisfying _thump_ echoing through the apartment as the blast hit the man and sent him back into the living room, where he landed in a heap with yet another low thud.

On any other day, Willow now would have stood back, and would have left it to her wife to finish the man off; a quick glance told her that this wasn't an option this time though, the demon by now down on her knees, still pressing both hands to her ears, letting out low groans of pain as sweat trickled down her brow.

Fighting down the urge to rush over to her and make sure she'd be alright, Willow moved to the living room instead, just in time to see how the man tried to get back to his feet; now that she got a closer look at him, she realized that he was strangely familiar, but instead of wasting precious time with pondering this, she filed it away for later, quickly throwing the binding spell at him before he could get to his feet, a noise which was a mixture of surprise and anger coming from him when he found himself bound tightly by strips of carpet moments later.

"Impressive", he then said, looking up at her with a slight smile curling his lips; and even though he still was strangely familiar, Willow couldn't figure out where she had seen him before, the fact that he had a rather unremarkable, average face not helping her with placing him.

"I have to admit, I did not expect that alarm spell", he went on when she didn't say anything, "and I also did not expect you to gather your wits so quickly. You are used to people breaking into your home, then?"

"More or less", Willow replied, fighting hard to not let any emotion show when a weak groan emerged from the adjoining bedroom, her gaze hardening when the man tilted his head to the right in response to the sound, his smile widening before he looked at her again, just a hint of amusement in his voice when he went on. "Apparently, that alarm took your partner by surprise, too. Still a bit sensitive to loud noises after that explosion, is she?"

"Who are you, and why are you here?", the witch demanded to know in reply, deciding to ignore his little jab at her partner, even though she knew she should find out if he actually had been behind the explosion, as Giles had suspected; figuring though that it was more important to get some general information from him now, she held those questions back, telling herself she'd have more than enough time to ask them, with the man securely bound.

"My name does not matter", the man replied, still smiling, a fact which made her slightly uneasy, since he should have been much less relaxed, bound as he was and more or less at her mercy, "but if you really do need to call me something, call me Morgan. And as for why I am here, well… I've heard about you. Very interesting things, in fact, and I came here to see if they are true."

"I hope I didn't disappoint your expectations", the redhead found herself unable to hold back a bit of snark; in response, Morgan let out a chuckle, then shook his head, a strange, somewhat greedy glint entering his eyes as he looked up at her.

"No worries", he let her know, shifting as far as the carpet bonds allowed it, his smile never fading, "from what I saw so far, you quite fulfilled them. Even though you have a tendency to let your guard down once you bound your target."

"What—" the witch still had time to say, then his eyes narrowed and, with a strange jerking motion of both arms, he broke the spell, the tendrils of carpet falling away uselessly; her eyes widened, but before she could do more than that, he thrust his arm out at her, a tremendous force hitting her in the chest the blink of an eye later and throwing her backwards, until the wall stopped her harshly, her impact hard enough to dent it.

"You are not the only one good at such tricks though", Morgan casually told her as he came to his feet, "and I have an even better binding spell than yours. Watch me."

His right hand moved, in a quick, but complicated gesture, not even giving her time to recover from the hit she had taken; while she still tried to keep herself from going down fully, having ended up on all fours on the ground, he finished his spell, a small, surprised cry coming from her as her arms were jerked to her front, brightly glowing bonds closing around her wrists moments later, with a short, just as bright chain between them, binding her firmly, another cry coming from her when he made yet another gesture and the magical ties pulled her to her feet, then back against the wall, her arms high above her head as he smiled and lowered his hand again.

"Nice, isn't it", he wanted to know, moving closer to her, his smile widening into a predatory smirk when she tugged at the bonds, incapable of moving her arms even an inch, "and much harder to break than your pathetic little binding spell. I'm surprised you don't know it, someone with your level of power."

He only stopped when he was so close to her that their bodies were nearly touching, the greed back in his eyes as he reached up with one hand and ran his fingers lightly down her cheek; he leaned down towards her, and for a moment, she was sure he would kiss her, revulsion making her skin crawl, her heart racing in her chest as she tried to figure out what exactly this man wanted from her and how she could get out of this.


	10. Chapter 10

In the bedroom, Pat had no idea what was going on as she crouched next to the bed, taking deep breaths in an attempt to gain control over the raging pain in her ears; along with that, the ringing was back, keeping her from hearing anything Willow and the intruder were saying or doing to each other, fear washing over her as she realized that this could mean all sorts of horrible things for her partner.

With the dreadful mental images of the man hurting her wife and their child sending a surge of adrenaline through her body, Pat managed to get to her feet, staggering slightly, but staying upright after a moment of intense concentration; gritting her teeth, she moved on to the door leading to the living room, telling herself that no matter how she felt, she'd kick the intruder's butt if he had done as much as harmed a hair on Willow's head.

Using that determination to stay on her feet, the demon stepped into the living room; and moments later, red, hot rage flooded her as she saw her wife up against the wall, her hands bound above her head with some sort of spell, and the man in front of her, standing so close to her that he was almost pressed against her, one hand caressing her cheek, his lips moving as he mumbled something she couldn't quite hear to her, the ringing in her ears still too loud to let her pick up what he was saying.

"Get the Hell away from her", Pat pressed out, clenching her fists as she took yet another step, then stopped, not wanting to put Willow in danger; her first and foremost goal had to be getting this guy away from her, and once there'd be enough of a distance between him and her, she could focus on taking him out.

"You're up faster than I would have expected", he replied loudly, making sure she could hear him, as he turned his head to look at her; and moments later, Willow made good use of the fact that her legs were free, gritting her teeth in a snarl remarkably similar to those her wife often showed when angry as she jerked one knee up, something he clearly had not expected from someone who usually used magic in combat, a strangled noise coming from him when she hit him right in his privates.

Momentarily, Pat was surprised as well, not having expected this from her wife, even though she had seen her do just that once before; she got over her surprise quickly though, already moving again while the man still was going down to his knees, grabbing him at the collar and hoisting him back up before he could land on them.

"End that spell", she snarled at him, shaking him when he didn't react at once, ignoring how drastically his facial colour had gone from rather healthy to a pasty white, "or I'll start breaking bones until you do. Do it! _Now_."

The last word came out as a low growl, dark satisfaction briefly joining her anger when he paled even further in response, not only having expected the alarm spell to take her out longer, but also quite scared of her all too obvious strength and her willingness to hurt him, remembering what he had heard about her and how unscrupulous she was when it came to violence – especially against those who had harmed her partner, or even only had planned to do so.

"What she did to you just now?" the demon went on when he didn't end the spell fast enough for her liking, "I can do things which are a hundred, a thousand times worse. End the spell."

He nodded hurriedly, as far as her grip on him allowed it, and brought up his hand; too late, Willow saw the glint of malice flash up in his eyes, but before she could call out a warning, he had snapped a single word, and a second later, a brief, but loud bang echoed through the apartment, something which normally wouldn't have much of an effect on the demon, but now was enough to make her cry out as fresh pain flashed up in her ears, another bang swiftly following the first, forcing her to let go of him as she staggered back, her hands almost automatically coming up to cover her ears again.

Straightening up, his pain clearly forgotten or, Willow had to realize, probably taken care of by his magic, Morgan gave the demon a cold look as she fought to stay on her feet; his eyes narrowed, and he ignored the cry of "No!" the witch let out as he flung up one arm, using the same spell against the black haired woman as he had against her earlier, the blast hitting her and sending her flying, a low grunt coming from her as she hit the carpet on the other end of the room.

"I'm sure someone with your level of power can figure out how to break these bonds sooner or later", Morgan told the witch as he turned towards her again, making sure to stay out of reach now so she couldn't kick him again, "I have to admit, your alarm spell and the fast recovery of your partner made my original plan rather obsolete, but, as you surely agree, one of the greatest talents a magic user can have is the ability to improvise."

He smiled at her, then moved his hand yet again, her eyes going wide when a dagger made of purple-blackish light appeared in his grip; and even though it was made of pure magic, it looked solid enough to do some serious damage, her heart rate reaching new heights when he turned towards her lover.

"I was hoping the explosion would kill her, you know", he almost amiably told her as he walked towards her, taking his time, his confidence only making this worse, telling her that, even though he knew she could break the spell sooner or later, he didn't expect her to do so anytime soon, "and that her death would be enough to let you tap into this enormous power you just carry around, in the far back of your mind."

"Believe me, you don't want me to tap into that", Willow gave back, eager to keep him talking if this meant that she could keep him from harming her partner until she had figured something out, "whenever I did that, very unpleasant things happened. Usually to people who made me angry."

"Like your flaying of the young man, huh", Morgan wanted to know, raising an eyebrow at the shocked look which showed on her face in response, sounding honestly surprised when he went on. "What, you thought I didn't know that? After I heard of you and your enormous potential, I did some research of course. I'm not a fool to go up against someone like you without knowing about them, you know! So I learned about your power, and about the amazing things you did with this power…"

"Not so amazing, unless you count the white magic", Willow countered, flexing her fingers as part of her mind was focused on the magic binding her, trying to find a way to undo the spell before he could remember what he had been about to do and harm her partner after all; briefly, she had the hope that Pat would come back around in time to prevent this, but so far, she still laid motionless on the carpet, and even if she did wake up, he would just cause another bang with his magic and incapacitate her yet again.

"Quite amazing", he argued back, to her relief having stopped his approach of the demon for now, "the flaying alone was impressive, but all the rest… and still, you didn't even use a tenth of that power, even though it's right there. Such a waste. And this is why I'm here."

"You're not gonna make me use it", Willow spat, raising her voice when he started moving towards her partner again, "and hurting her won't change that! Leave her alone!"

"You misunderstand", he replied, briefly glancing at her again, a cold, cruel smile on his face, now, "my plan is not to make you it. There's no benefit in that for me. No, I'm not going to make you use that power, Willow. I'm going to take it from you."


	11. Chapter 11

His casual reveal of what he planned to do startled her into shocked silence, her eyes widening yet again while he smiled, then chuckled; he gave her another second to let the enormity of his promise sink in, then he turned away from her and towards her partner again, ignoring her this time when she cried out that he should stop.

Helplessly, she pulled at the bonds yet again, not really surprised when they didn't even move an inch; her breath quickened as fear for her lover took hold of her, but again he ignored her when she shouted at him to stop, the magic the dagger was made of swirling and dancing as he stopped next to the unconscious demon and raised the weapon.

Gritting her teeth, Willow's mind raced as she tried to figure out how to stop him, knowing that she had to act fast; it would have been easier, had she been able to use her arms, but still she knew that there had to be something she could do, some sort of spell which wouldn't require the need of her hands to be cast.

Briefly, she thought of the binding spell again, until she remembered how easily Morgan had shaken it off once he had put his mind to it; still, she figured it would slow him down at least for a few seconds, precious time she needed to come up with something else, her eyes narrowing as she focused on the magic, a surprised noise coming from him when the carpet yet again snuck up and wrapped around his ankles, keeping him from taking another step.

"That, again?" he wanted to know once he had gotten over his surprise, turning his head to look at her, the dagger still glistening in his hand, "are you getting this desperate, to try a spell you know won't hold me?"

Not even bothering to dignify that with an answer, Willow shifted her stance slightly, yet another idea coming to her; she had done something similar before, when she had been fighting against agents of the Shop to protect a friend from Pat's past, and it had worked out just fine, but this time, she'd have to do it without use of her hands, sweat forming on her brow as she focused, a conscious effort to direct the magic not towards her fingers, but downwards, something she never had done before.

Clearly not noticing what she was trying to do, or not caring, Morgan glanced down at his feet, his eyes narrowing as he briefly focused his power to break the spell, the carpet falling back down uselessly, a satisfied little smirk forming on his face as his gaze moved to the still lifeless demon again, his grip on the dagger tightening slightly.

Behind him, Willow took in another deep breath, knowing that she had amassed enough power to unleash it at him with considerable effect; still, she took the time to breathe deeply a few more times, making sure that she was fully focused on what she had to do, knowing she'd only getting one chance – if it wouldn't work, he'd either go straight for Pat and kill her after all, or do something to her which would make sure she wouldn't be able to try anything again, and then kill her partner, none of these possible outcomes much to her liking.

" _Motus assultus",_ the witch pressed out as just as he took another step, stomping her foot down as hard as she could the blink of an eye later; and to her relief, the spell worked out just as she had intended it to, a bright lance of magic shooting away from her and speeding along the carpet until it impacted, hitting Morgan in both feet with an explosion of force and colour, a shocked cry coming from him this time as it sent him flying, an attack he clearly hadn't been expecting.

A low _thud_ echoed through the apartment as he hit the wall, then slumped down to the carpet, visibly dazed; gritting her teeth, Willow didn't waste time and energy on trying to bind him yet again, focusing on the binding spell he had put on her instead, narrowing her eyes again as she started working on breaking the bonds with as much force as she dared to use – she wanted to get rid of them quickly, but the last thing they needed now was that the darkness within her took hold of her again, the redhead not even daring to imagine what it might do then, or what it might make Morgan do.

"Come on", she mumbled under her breath while Morgan was fighting hard to stay conscious, the dagger gone from his hand by now, having vanished the moment he had lost his focus on the magic, "come on, come on…"

From the other end of the room, she heard Pat groan slightly, but didn't dare to look, knowing it would only make her concentration slip, something she couldn't afford for even a second, not with this strong spell binding her and Morgan still not out cold, but regaining his senses instead, groaning as well as he slowly recovered from the hit he had taken.

Even though she knew that it was dangerous and might end up not only breaking the spell, but also hurting her, the witch clenched her fists as she decided that a blunt approach would work best, knowing that she had the raw power to accomplish it; she took in yet another deep breath, gathering her magical strength – before she unleashed it in a spike of pure, raw power, forced to squeeze her eyes shut as it slammed into her bonds, the collision of magic causing a literal firework to flash through the apartment, the pained yelp which came from Morgan telling her that he hadn't looked away fast enough.

Gritting her teeth in pain as the raw power had burned and blistered her wrists and hands, Willow forced herself to ignore the ache as the bonds vanished into nothingness, giving her freedom to move again; keeping her gaze away from the burns she had caused, not wanting to see how bad it was, she took a step away from the wall, then hurriedly conjured up her shield, just in case to be ready for anything Morgan might try to throw at her, even though he still looked as if he hadn't fully recovered from the hit yet.

"Impressive", he managed to bring out, struggling to sit up with his back against the wall, the redhead only now noticing that he was bleeding, a thin trickle of blood running from a wound hidden beneath his shaggy dark hair and down his cheek, "I thought it'd take you longer to break those bonds, and I certainly didn't expect you to harm yourself just to get it done faster."

"People often underestimate the petit redhead", Willow gave back, fighting hard to keep the pain out of her voice; by now it felt as if someone had doused her hands and wrists in gasoline and then had set them on fire, causing her to briefly wonder how long it would take this time until the heightened healing factor her pregnancy had granted her would kick in, if it depended on how serious the injury was or if the burns might not set it off at all, considering that the child she was carrying within her had more or less been fathered by a fire demon.

"I'm not gonna make that mistake again", Morgan grunted, to her relief not looking as if he might try to get up or throw some spell at her, unlike her partner, who was coming back around enough to roll over on her back, then struggle in a sitting position, neither the witch, nor the man looking at her though, both focused on each other, "and you just confirmed that coming here was the best idea I could have had. I thank you for your little demonstrations of your skills."

He smiled at her, then his face hardened as he brought up his hands; more out of reflex than conscious thought, Willow let more power flow into her shield, strengthening it against any attack he might throw at her, but instead of doing so, he let out a string of words, a massive cloud of smoke erupting around him once he had said the last one, startling the witch into taking a step back, helpless anger filling her as the cloud vanished a few seconds later and let her see that he had disappeared into thin air, without leaving even the smallest trace behind.


	12. Chapter 12

Even though she wanted to find out where he had gone and how to stop him, Willow ignored his rather cowardly departure via teleportation spell for now, dropping her shield before hurrying to her partner's side instead; by now, Pat had managed to sit up fully, leaning against the wall and still looking a bit dazed, but at least aware enough to focus her gaze on the witch when she knelt down next to her.

"Are you alright?" she demanded to know, still ignoring her pain as she placed a tender hand on her shoulder; dismayed by how easily this man had taken her out, and by the fact that his stupid banging spells had brought the ringing back to her ears, Pat shrugged, then nodded, giving her lover a worried glance as she replied. "Fine, yeah… What about you? He didn't hurt you after he knocked me out, did he?"

Her gaze moved to her hands, taking in the reddened, blistered skin; smiling weakly, Willow shook her head, relieved to see that she was well enough to answer her and that Morgan's attacks hadn't damaged her hearing, despite how hard he had tried to do just that.

"I kinda did that to myself", she then admitted, "when I broke his binding spell. It's alright, I can handle it… but I do hope that the healing kicks in soon."

"I wish my healing had handled that stupid explosion better", Pat grumbled in response, letting it happen that the witch helped her to her feet, "it's quite annoying how easily he could take me out with just a few loud bangs."

"Perhaps you should demon out again", Willow suggested in response, "try to speed it up a bit? He poofed out of here now, which is quite upsetting actually because it means he packs a lot of power, but I'm quite sure he'll be back soon…"

"What did he want, anyway", the demon wanted to know, taking a few steps away from Willow so she could demon out without endangering her, "did he say? Or did he just keep showing off his awesome magical powers?"

"He told me", Willow gave back, a bit uneasy now as she wasn't sure how her lover would take the revelation, "and… it's not pleasant. I mean, of course it's not, he admitted he tried to kill you with that explosion, so he's not here to have tea and cookies with us…"

Realizing that she was babbling, she forced herself to slow down, taking in a deep breath while the demon went through her transformation; by now, Pat knew her well enough to figure that the babble had been brought on by the giddiness she surely was feeling now, after successfully using her magic not only to break the binding spell, but also to keep the man away from her and protect her while she had been down.

"Alright, getting back on track", the witch now mumbled, while the taller woman finished her change, grimacing when something cracked in her neck as the healing kicked in – she hadn't been in pain when she had woken up, but clearly, there would have been pain in the next morning, had she gone to sleep without demoning out first, "he told me that he wants to take my power. From how he talked, it seems he's mostly interested in the dark magic, but I doubt he's planning to leave me the rest."

"Well, he had one chance, and he fucked that up", Pat grumbled in response, changing back now that the ringing in her ears had subsided, "I'm not gonna let him have another go at you, and if I have to plug my ears to stop him."

"Language", Willow smiled, stepping closer to her once she had finished the transformation back to her human form, her smile widening when she was pulled into a tender embrace immediately, "and if we're lucky for once, you won't need those earplugs, if the healing worked on it now… can you tell?"

"Not sure", Pat sighed in response, moving one hand to caress her back tenderly, "the ringing's stopped, but it did so too the first time, before the alarm spell messed it all up again. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…"

"Not your fault", the redhead reassured her at once, "I'm the one who should be sorry, for making the spell so goddamn loud… and for forgetting all about it when we came home from the hospital, after the doctor told us that you should avoid loud noises for a while."

"Let's just remember it for the future", the demon shrugged her concerns off, "even though I doubt he'll try to hit us here again, now that he knows we have the alarm and will know when he enters. He'll try something else."

"Probably", Willow sighed, "but I'm not willing to take any risks…. We should get some rest, but not here."

"Buffy's place", the taller woman replied at once, simultaneously agreeing with her, "she'll probably freak if we show up on her doorstep in the middle of the night, but it's better to have her freak than to encounter this guy again when we're not on top of our game."

"My thoughts exactly", the redhead agreed, "let's just pack some things and then head over there…"

"I'll call a cab", Pat let her know, pulling back from the embrace so she could move over to the phone, "I usually don't mind nightly walks through Sunnydale, but I'm not eager to take one with this psycho out there."

"Me neither", Willow grimaced, "I'm not sure how badly I hurt him, or how much power it took him to do that teleportation spell out of here, but I'd rather not find out the hard way how much power he has left."

"Not until you had time to recharge, at least", the black haired woman replied, then picked up the phone; just nodding in reply, the redhead waited until she had finished the call and had ordered the cab, letting the smaller woman know afterwards that it'd be there in about fifteen minutes.

"Enough time to pack", Willow smiled, making her wife nod – before she gave her a strict look and gestured at the couch, explaining herself at the way the witch raised an eyebrow in response.

"You're not gonna do any packing with your hands looking like that", she told her, in a tone that made it clear she wasn't willing to discuss this, "you'll just sit here and let me do that, it's not like we'll need much."

"Well, that look on your face is your version of my resolve face, so I won't waste time with arguing", the witch gave in quickly, making her partner smirk slightly before she gestured at the couch yet again; humouring her, the redhead moved over to it and sat down, Pat still taking the time for a brief kiss before she moved to the bedroom and started packing in a hurry, eager to get done before the cab would arrive and take them to Buffy's home.


	13. Chapter 13

In the next morning, Willow briefly felt disoriented when she woke up, not having an idea where she was; then, it all came back to her as she realized that it was Joyce's former bedroom, the one Pat and she used whenever they stayed at the Slayer's home, on the grounds that it was the only one with a proper double bed.

Next to her, Pat was still fast asleep, sprawled on her back and snoring slightly; propping herself up one elbow, something which was more difficult than usual, thanks to her rather rounded stomach, the redhead took a few moments to just study her, a soft smile curling her lips as her gaze focused on the taller woman's face, looking calm and peaceful, not showing the strain the previous day had put on her.

Not wanting to wake her up, Willow held back the urge to reach out and run her fingers through the demon's hair; instead of doing that, she carefully got out of bed, stretching and grimacing when her back cracked – not only had she been thrown around quite a bit by Morgan the day before, but by now, the pregnancy added quite the bit of extra weight, and the strain this put on her back couldn't be ignored anymore.

Briefly, she rested both hands on her rounded stomach, smiling slightly to herself; she knew that, once the child would be born, it'd bring a lot of change to their lives, and challenges they so far didn't even dream of, but none of this scared her, the marvel of how the baby had been created within her and the fact that she not only had Pat to help, but the whole Scoobie Gang, making dealing with the pregnancy and the changes it brought more than easy.

Glancing at her partner again, her smile widening slightly, Willow once again thought of the sacrifice she had made, of what she had given up to get her back after she had been killed, had been actually and truly dead; her gaze briefly moved down to the wedding band on her finger, giving her the chance to notice that the healing finally had kicked in and had taken care of her burns, then she forced herself to snap out of her sentimental mood, getting dressed as quietly as she could before she made her way downstairs, finding Buffy in the kitchen there, the blonde smiling at her as she greeted her cheerfully.

"Good morning to you, too", Willow returned the greeting, moving to the kitchen table and sitting down, the Slayer not missing how one hand went to the small of her back, "Dawn's still asleep?"

"Yes", Buffy confirmed, moving to the electric kettle, "she's got late class today. You want some tea?"

"Yes please", the redhead gave back, making her best friend smile briefly as this had been the answer she had been expecting.

"No coffee for the pregnant woman", Buffy smiled, moving to fill the kettle and prepare the cup and teabag, "and now tell me everything about that guy. He said he's going to take your power from you?"

"Yes", Willow nodded, grimacing at the unpleasant memories, "but honestly, I'm not even sure why he'd need it, it's not like he's weak. He's wielding some major mojo, not as much as I do, with that dark magic inside me, but enough to do some pretty serious spellwork without getting tired out or drained."

"Some people just never get enough", Buffy shrugged in response, "you know what I've been wondering about? I mean, you didn't give me all the details, but from what you did tell me, he pretty much had you, and Pat had gone down. So why didn't he take it already?"

"I don't know", the witch had to admit, having asked herself exactly the same question, "he could have, I don't doubt that, but he didn't. Perhaps he was about to when Pat interrupted, he did look as if he was about to kiss me when she told him to get away from me, maybe that's how he would have done it…"

"Perhaps", Buffy nodded, remembering another power-stealing witch who had fed on her victims exactly that way, "but still, it's weird. If he could have taken your power that way, why not do it after he had taken Pat down again? And why would he bother try killing her first with the explosion if he just could have taken it that way?"

"I wish I knew", Willow sighed, nodding her thanks when Buffy put down the by now prepared cup of tea in front of her, "but once I had him down and thought we could capture and question him, he just teleported away."

"Well, I guess Pat is right and he'll try again", the Slayer gave back, not sounding all too perturbed, "so we'll have another chance to capture and question him. I suggest you stay here until then, it'd be safer if we stick together."

"Yes", the witch agreed at once, something she already had thought of as well, "it'll be good to have two fighters in case he shows up again, and we still don't know if Pat's healing dealt with her ear problems by now, so…"

"Gosh, I hope so", Buffy grimaced, not liking the thought of their mysterious new opponent taking the demon out with a simple loud noise, "otherwise, it'll be way too easy for him to take her down again."

"And she'll get pissed", Willow added, making the blonde nod, "which will make her want to take him out even more, and that in turn will make her reckless. I don't want her to get hurt again Buffy, it's bad enough that she got hurt in that explosion…"

"I'm fine now", the demon's voice rasped from behind her before Buffy had the chance to reply something, making her jump; feeling a bit guilty for talking about her behind her back, even though she hadn't said anything negative, the redhead turned to face her wife, her guilt lessening when she saw the slight smile on the taller woman's face.

"I know you are", she confirmed, momentarily forgetting about Buffy's presence in the room as she moved over to the demon and immediately was pulled into a tender embrace, "but I still don't want you to get hurt again anytime soon. Honestly, if your healing left scars whenever you get injured, you'd have a million by now."

"You're exaggerating", Pat protested, both the witch and the Slayer noticing that she was surprisingly coherent, considering she just had gotten out of bed, "it'd perhaps be a few dozen."

The only response she got for that was that Willow rolled her eyes, prompting Buffy to let out a small giggle; then, the redhead smiled again as well and pulled her lover down for a tender kiss, the taller woman's next words this time making both her and the blonde giggle, both of them having been waiting for her to ask ever since she had appeared in the kitchen. "Okay, before we talk about this any further, where's the coffee?"


	14. Chapter 14

"Okay, plan", Buffy recapped the results of their talk once the demon had gulped down one cup of coffee and now was halfway through the second one, "you guys stay here with Dawn and me, just to be on the safe side. Willow, you're gonna do some of those noise spells so we'll know if Pat needs to demon out again to fix her ears, and you'll renew the blocking spell on the chip, just in case he's human. I'll call Giles and ask him to figure out why he didn't take your power right away, and what we can do to stop him from trying in the first place."

"Sounds fine to me", Pat agreed while Willow just nodded, "let's hope Giles will figure something out. But hey, on the plus side, at least we know now that he's not after the kid, as I first thought."

"That doesn't make much of a difference though", Willow pointed out, giving her an unhappy look when she glanced at her questioningly in response, "if he takes all my magic… Well, the same thing was suggested after I'd started going on my roaring rampage of revenge, you know, after Tara, and the coven said that simply cutting me off from my power would kill me. So, if he takes it all at once…"

"…you'll die", Pat finished darkly, with a tone in her voice that made it clear that, had the man appeared in front of her right this instant, she would have strangled him to death with her bare hands, "and the child with you."

"Yes", the witch gave back, a weak smile curling her lips again when the demon reached over and grasped her hand tenderly, her voice kind, but sincere as she replied, showing that she meant every word.

"I'm not going to let that happen", she reassured her, her quiet determination making Buffy smile slightly as well, as it was just another instance of the demon making it more than clear how much Willow meant to her and how far she was willing to go to protect her, even though any doubts about her devotion had been blown to pieces a long time ago, "I swear. I'll demon out a hundred times if I have to, to make sure he can't take me down again, and then I'll make him rue the day he heard your name for the first time."

"Anyone who doesn't live the kind of life we have would be worried now, and probably call the police, or a psychiatrist", Willow smiled, making the taller woman chuckle slightly, "but considering all the things we have been through so far, that was really sweet."

"I have my moments", Pat gave back, making it the witch's turn to giggle; Buffy took another moment to smirk at them, as well, then announced that she would call Giles now and got up from her seat, leaving the kitchen just as Dawn entered, the brunette clearly surprised to see Willow and Pat, not having noticed them arrive in the middle of the night.

"You guys are here early", she stated as she moved over to the kitchen counter and started preparing a cup of coffee, obviously having taken pointers from Pat about the amount of sugar needed to make it what she called good coffee, "did something happen?"

"Yes, but not this morning", the redhead gave back while next to her, the demon chuckled lowly, "we came by last night. Our mysterious new friend decided to drop by, and once he'd left again, we figured it'd be safer here."

"You know, for someone who lives in a town as dangerous as Sunnydale, I really do sleep way too deeply", Dawn grumbled, sitting down at the table and looking at the couple, "I didn't notice a thing. Could just as easily have been some demon eager to wreck the house and I would have slept through it."

"Well, lucky for you, all the demon who came to this house last night wanted was some decent sleep", Pat smirked, making the young woman giggle slightly – before she grew serious again all at once, momentarily startling the taller woman, only to make her smile again with what she said next.

"I'm glad you're okay again", Dawn told her, reaching out to briefly touch her arm; by now, she wasn't idolizing her anymore as she had during the first year Willow and she had been together, having matured past that point, but still she was fond of the demon, and hated it to see her hurt.

"When they said that the café had blown up, I was really scared", she freely admitted, clearly having no troubles with talking about her feelings, unlike other people her age, "I know you always go there while we have our study group… well… went there…"

"…yeah", Pat gave back after a moment of silence, her face darkening; by now, she had been told that she'd been the only to make it out of there alive, and now, after some proper sleep and time to let everything which had happened settle, she couldn't help but think of the two people who had died in there, one of them the young man who might have become a true friend, had their opponent not made his move.

Sensing what she was thinking about, Willow gave her hand a tender squeeze, making her look at her; knowing that there was nothing she could say to make it better, the redhead merely held her gaze, her serious and understanding expression silently telling the demon that this was yet another thing they would make Morgan pay for.

After a moment of holding her gaze, the taller woman managed a weak smile, a just as silent reassurance that she was okay; Willow gave her hand another squeeze in response, then let go of her again, just as Buffy came back into the room, the worried expression on her face making all three of them concerned immediately, as well.

"What is it", Pat was the first who dared to ask, exchanging another uneasy look with her lover, "Giles have bad news?"

"I think so", Buffy gave back, running a nervous hand through her hair, "he didn't say much, but after I told him what had happened and what the guy had said to Willow, he got really quiet, said he had to look into something and that he'd come here as soon as he found it."

"That's bad news", Willow mumbled, her tone of voice making it Pat's turn to reach out and grasp her hand in quiet support, "if he has to look something up, he usually finds something really dreadful and dangerous then."

"Well, whatever it is, we'll handle it", the demon replied at once, having regained her usual confidence, "you know we will. We always did so far."

Even though she wasn't as sure about that, with a sudden uneasy feeling sending shivers down her spine, the redhead made herself nod; Pat gave her another smile, then squeezed her hand tenderly, unable though to take away the sudden knowledge that something far more dreadful than they had first thought was going on.


	15. Chapter 15

It took almost an hour until Giles finally arrived, and when he did, he looked as glum as Willow was feeling by then; Pat's tries to calm her down hadn't helped much, and by now, the demon was uneasy, as well, knowing that if someone with Willow's level of power felt such dark forebodings, it usually had a good reason.

"There you are", she greeted the Watcher as he entered, earning a brief nod from him in response; he took the time to greet the others as well, then put the book he had brought along down on the table before he sat down, his gaze focusing on Willow almost immediately, only strengthening her suspicions that someone terrifying was about to happen or already happening.

"What's going on", Buffy demanded to know when the redhead didn't say anything in response to the Brit's concerned look, "did you find what you were looking for? And why did you go all secretive on me?"

"I was hoping I might be wrong", Giles replied, his gaze moving to her, "but, as I feared, I was not."

"Spill", Pat demanded, getting annoyed by his behaviour, "what's going on? You know this guy or something?"

"No, I don't", the Brit gave back, his gaze moving back to Willow again even though he was talking to her partner, "but I know that he knows what he is doing. He made his choice wisely when he came here now, to take your power, Willow."

"Why?" the redhead asked in response, even though she wasn't really sure she wanted to know, "what's going on?"

"There'll be an equinox two days from now", Giles gave back, "the day when daytime and night are of approximately…"

"…equal duration, yeah", Willow finished for him, "we know what it is. But why would it matter? These happen twice a year, and before now, no one ever came to steal my powers while they were going on."

"Because regular equinoxes don't make this easier", Giles let her know, "but this time… It's not just an equinox happening, if what I read in this book is correct, at the same time, there's a rare astronomical occurrence, an aligning of planets which only happens once every one hundred and twelve years. The equinox and this alignment happening on the same time is even more rare, happening once every six hundred and fifty eight years."

"What happens then?" Pat wanted to know, now getting highly worried, as well – she was far from as skilled as magic as her wife, despite her natural inclination towards it, but even she knew that such rare occurrences often led to strange supernatural incidents, or changed the rules, spells suddenly not working anymore as they used to or having completely different results than usual.

"Magic stops working", Giles replied, rather bluntly, prompting Willow to give him a wide-eyed look – she knew that there were ways to keep people from using their magic, having experienced a few of them first hand, but she never had heard of all magic stopping so completely as the Brit had implied.

"All of it", he made it even more clear upon her shocked expression, "witches and warlocks can't cast spells, you, Pat, will not be able to use your fire or change into your demon form, and even your strength might be influenced. The same goes for you, Buffy, your Slayer strength might be gone as well for the duration of perfect alignment for the planet, which, if this book is right, lasts for about two hours."

"And during the time, he'll be able to take my magic?" Willow wanted to know, frowning – this explained why he hadn't taken it the previous night, when he'd had a good chance to do it, but on the other hand, she found herself unable to figure out how he would do it if magic wasn't working at all.

"Yes", Giles replied, "according to the literature, it has been done before, but…"

"But what?" Pat demanded to know when he simply trailed off, her concern growing until it turned into dread, the witch shifting on her chair uneasily as well next to her; they still had time to exchange another uneasy look, then the Watcher finally spoke on, his words only making both of them feel worse about the whole situation.

"He won't be able to take your powers with magic of his own", he let them know, confirming what Willow already had figured out, "but… this occurrence changes the rules, and gives him a way to take your power."

"He has to kill her, doesn't he", Pat flatly threw in before the Brit had the chance to say it, "that's how he'll get her power. He murders her, and our child, and he gets her power."

Willow had a second to ask herself how her partner had figured this out so fast, a second during which she allowed herself the luxury to think that perhaps, Pat was wrong, and that Giles would tell her so; then the Brit nodded, looking dismayed, prompting the demon to let out a low growl while the witch ran a shaky hand through her hair, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to deal with this.

* * *

"You guys are staying here for now", Buffy decided a minute later, with a strict tone in her voice that showed she wasn't willing to discuss this, "even if we won't have our strength and powers during that certain time frame, it'll still be safer if we're all together. Giles, are you sure physical strength is going to be affected?"

"No", Giles gave back at once, to the slight relief of both the Slayer and the demon, "the literature is pointing out that it might have, but no one knew for sure back then when the equinox and the alignment occurred at the same time. Apparently, they had no Slayer or friendly demons at hand to test it."

"Too bad", Pat grumbled, "but let's just assume the worst, and our strength will be gone. So will be his then, and considering how scrawny he looked, I doubt his punch packs much power."

"His magic will be gone, too", Willow added, a fact which made her feel a bit better about the whole situation, "and Pat is right, he didn't look as if he's physically strong. So once it happens and the magic vanishes, perhaps we can take him down long enough to keep him from, well, killing me."

"Yes", Giles nodded at once, making her feel even better, "I strongly advise you not to kill him during those two hours, as it would lead to the one who does so gaining his powers, and we don't know how strong he is, but incapacitating him won't do any harm. Well, not to us, at least."

"Can't say I care much about him", Pat grumbled, "so him getting harmed is not one of my concerns. Not after what he did."

"And is trying to do", Dawn added darkly, making the taller woman nod; then, Buffy cleared her throat, making them all look at her again, worry back in her voice when she spoke up, her words prompting the black haired woman to start growling again, lowly in the back of her throat, but loud enough to let them all hear it.

"So Giles", the Slayer started, shifting on her chair uneasily, "how… close to her does he have to be to take her power when she dies? Not that I think you will, Willow, we're not gonna let that happen, but, well, if he can do it from afar…"

"He might just get a gun and try to sniper you", Pat was the one to realize what Buffy was aiming for, "shoot you from afar, and you'd be dead before we even knew what happened, if he does it right."

"According to the book, he has to be close", Giles hurriedly told them the moment he had the chance to, eager to put the dreadful mental images the words of the Slayer and the demon had conjured up to rest again, "so just shooting you from afar won't be an option, Willow. The magic would just… poof away, for lack of a better word."

"Well, that's something", the redhead sighed in response, "so at least I won't have to worry about getting shot out of nowhere. The thought that he'll have to be close to kill me doesn't make me feel any better though, because, well, he'll still want to kill me."

"He can try", Pat grumbled, an audible growl in her voice yet again, "then I'll kick his ass from here to next Sunday. I'm not going to let him harm a single hair on your head, Will."

"Just keep in mind, no demon form for two hours, so no healing", Buffy pointed out while the redhead smiled slightly at her partner, "so make sure to not protect her by throwing yourself in front of his knife, alright?"

"Psh", the demon let out in response, making the blonde smile as well, "you should know I don't plan to do these things. They just kinda… happen."

"Try not to let it happen this time", Willow told her, "he's already tried to kill you once, just to get you out of the way, so he won't have troubles doing it again."

"Again, he can try", the taller woman gave back, frowning slightly, "I won't have troubles killing him, either."

"Just don't do so during the two hours", Giles sighed in response, to her surprise not trying to remind her of the fact that he was human and thus shouldn't be killed; then, she shrugged it off and just nodded, the Watcher giving her a slight smile in response, making her wonder if he had figured out what she was thinking about and just this once had no problem with her killing a human, something he was trying to tell her through the little smirk on his face.

"Alright", Buffy stated, making them all look at her again, "we need more of a plan than just sitting around and waiting for him to come back. I'll head over to Willy's and see if he knows more than he originally said. Willow, you and Pat find out if loud noises are okay now and if not, do something against it, but do it somewhere where no one will notice. The cellar, perhaps. Giles, you do some more research, see if you can find out anything about this guy and about that special occurrence coming up."

"What about me?" Dawn wanted to know while the other three nodded, "what can I do to help?"

"You go to college and take your classes", Buffy strictly told her in response, making her pout; she didn't protest though, but merely sighed before she nodded, then got up from her seat and told the group she'd better get going, then, if she didn't want to be late.

"If you notice anything strange or out of the ordinary, call me", Buffy told her while getting up as well; and while the brunette nodded, then hurried off, accompanied by her sister and Giles, the witch and the demon headed downstairs, eager to make sure that Pat's ears had been properly healed by now and that Morgan wouldn't be able to take her out with a simple loud noise spell yet again.


	16. Chapter 16

"Alright", Willow told her lover a few minutes later, after they had moved to the cellar where no one would hear any noise they might make, "I'll start with a bang softer than the one he used, so I won't end up hurting you right away in case it isn't healed yet, and then we'll move on to louder noises. Ready?"

"I guess so", Pat gave back, fidgeting slightly; the redhead gave her a hopefully reassuring smile, then concentrated, her eyes briefly narrowing – she never had done the exact spell Morgan had used, but she had enough power to conjure up the noise she wanted, clenching her fist as she took in a deep breath, then made a flinging gesture at the demon, smiling when the banging noise she had been hoping for echoed through the cellar moments later, making the taller woman flinch slightly.

"Didn't hurt", she quickly reassured her wife at the concerned glance the redhead shot her, "just startled me."

"Alright", the witch gave back, "on we go then… louder this time."

She waited until Pat had nodded her agreement, then focused again, producing the bang much quicker this time, and louder, as she had announced; and when this had no ill effect on her lover, either, she kept it up, gradually making them louder and louder, until they almost made her own ears hurt, relieved to see that, apart from making her jump a few times, the noises apparently hadn't had any other effect on the demon.

"Seems like the healing worked, finally", Pat commented once the redhead had stopped the magic and the cellar had fallen quiet again, "about time."

"Indeed", Willow agreed at once, smiling as the taller woman moved over to her and pulled her into an embrace, one she returned more than gladly, "now he can't take you down with a simple noise anymore."

"And I can kick his ass", Pat smirked, earning a slight giggle and a nod from her wife; standing on the tips of her toes, Willow stole a brief kiss from her, her smile widening when afterwards, the taller woman tenderly started caressing her back.

"You know", the demon then mumbled, pulling her even closer, as close as it was possible with her rounded stomach, "they all left by now. So we got the house to ourselves."

"We do", Willow agreed, her eyes twinkling as she already knew where this was leading and loved every second of it, "so we should use that time efficiently, don't you think?"

"Hell yes", Pat gave back at once, then made her squeal in surprise by bending down slightly and picking her up in her arms; letting out another giggle, the redhead wrapped both arms around her neck, by now not even pointing out anymore that the demon shouldn't drop her – after all, Pat had done this often enough by now to reassure her that she had the strength and stamina necessary to carry her, even for an extended amount of time.

Smirking at her giggling, the black haired woman started moving, making her way out of the cellar and upstairs to the bedroom, without breaking a sweat or even breathing harder by the time they arrived there, a lusty glint in her good eye when she stopped next to the bed and carefully lowered the redhead onto it.

"Now just lie back, relax", she then advised her, already moving to hover over her, making sure that she wasn't putting any weight or pressure on her stomach, "and enjoy."

"Just what I was planning to do", Willow reassured her, making her smirk slightly; then, she bent down to kiss her deeply, the witch responding at once, wrapping both arms around her, the new threat to their lives forgotten the moment she felt the taller woman slide one hand beneath her shirt as all she could focus on was her lover's kiss and touch and the way she made her feel.

* * *

A while later, Willow laid in her wife's arms, having drifted off into a light slumber after the previous activities; halfway beneath her, Pat was awake, looking up at the ceiling deep in thought, her brow slightly furrowed as she found herself unable to focus on anything else than the man somewhere out there, eager to kill her lover.

Now that Willow was sleeping, she had time to ponder him and what he wanted to do; the mere thought of him laying a hand on her made the demon's blood boil, and she had to hold back the urge to snarl in frustration at how little they knew about him, not wanting to wake her partner up with her noises of dismay.

Without even fully realizing what she was doing, she moved one hand to the redhead's stomach, resting her palm tenderly on it; so far, they hadn't felt the child kick yet, but the doctor had told them at the last check-up that this would happen soon, the thought putting a smile on the taller woman's face and taking some of her anger at Morgan and his vile plans away.

Glancing down at her wedding ring, her smirk widened slightly as she pondered everything which had happened ever since she had come to Sunnydale, all those years ago; when she first had arrived in the town, she never would have guessed that she'd ended up married to the one she had chosen to get close to her initial target, and with a child she more or less had fathered on the way, too.

Now that she had time and leisure to ponder these things, she wondered if it had been destiny which had led her here; at first, she remembered, she had been reluctant to take the job, not sure if one of her preferred methods was suitable for the Slayer, worried that she might see through her masquerade quickly and figure out that she was a demon. Still, she had taken the job after all, with the payment being too high to refuse and the chance for glory and fame in the demon world being too big; she had done her homework on the Slayer and her group of friends and quickly had chosen Willow as the one to get close to, the memory of how she merely had feigned her interested at first making her grimace.

She had apologized for this since then, more than once, and had made it more than clear that she had changed sides during the final fight against the gang which had hired her, nearly having lost her life in the process; and only during the first year of her stay in Sunnydale with Willow, she had been injured more often than during the whole century before she had come here, the number of wounds only increasing with each month she was there, the aid Willow and she gave Buffy whenever it was needed often enough leading them into dangerous situations.

Still, Pat thought to herself as she watched her sleeping lover, if she had to do it all again, she wouldn't change a thing; getting hurt was a small price to pay to ensure the safety of Willow, at first of her alone and now of both her and their child, and she was more than willing to let that happen whenever it was necessary, if only to make sure that no harm would come to the woman she had come to love so much that it almost scared her at times.

The noise of the door opening downstairs distracted her from her ponderings, briefly making her wonder how long exactly she had been lying there, staring up at the ceiling and letting her mind wander; then, she shrugged it off and carefully moved out from underneath Willow, relieved when she managed to do so without waking her up, making sure her steps were soundless as well when she made her way out of the room and down the hall, something which was easy for her, after centuries as an assassin.

A flash of blonde caught her eye, and she briefly felt relieved that it was just Buffy coming home, and not Morgan, making another attempt to kill her and do God knew what with Willow; thankfully, the Slayer was considerate enough to not holler through the house after she had taken off her shoes and jacket, glancing up moments later and smiling at the demon as their eyes met, the taller woman quickly putting a finger to her lips to make sure her friend wouldn't end up calling out after all and wake the redhead up.

"Willow's asleep", she explained after she had hurried down the stairs and had met Buffy at the door, "and she can really need some rest after all the excitement yesterday and last night, so I didn't want you to wake her up."

"Of course", Buffy nodded at once, keeping her voice down, as well, "but what about you? You got hurt, unlike her, shouldn't you be resting, too?"

"I'm fine", Pat gave back immediately, not really surprising the blonde – even if she still had been in pain, she never would have admitted it to her, with how she hated to show weakness of any kind, only capable of doing so when just Willow and no one else was around, and even that had taken her years.

"It all healed up by now", the demon now added, as if to make sure Buffy was getting her point, "my ears are fine again, too, we tested it in the cellar after you left, until Willow said that by now, the banging noises she made were loud enough to nearly make her go deaf, too."

"Good thing", Buffy smiled in response, moving on to the kitchen where they could at a normal volume without risking waking the witch up, "the last thing we need when this guy shows up again is that he takes you out with a simple loud noise."

"Indeed", Pat grumbled in response, "and, speaking of our charming new friend, did you learn anything new about him at Willy's?"

"Kind of", the blonde gave back, moving to the fridge and helping herself to a cold can of coke, opening it and taking a long gulp from it before she went on. "Not directly from Willy, but… I'm pretty sure he knows more than he told you when you went there. Unfortunately, I'm also pretty sure that he won't say a thing, no matter what we threaten him with."

"What", the demon frowned, not sure she had heard her right, briefly wondering if perhaps, her ears were still damaged after all – she knew how scared Willy was of pain, and how willing he was to spill his deepest secrets after just a simple threat.

"All it took was me walking in to have him cower behind the bar, close to tears", Buffy elaborated, to her surprise sounding honestly worried about the owner of the town's only demon bar, "and before I could even say something, he started babbling about how he couldn't tell me anything, even if I hit him or started breaking bones. I think that, after your last visit there, our new friend Morgan did the same… and whatever he said, or did, it worked the way he wanted to. Willy won't talk to us, no matter what… he's just too terrified."

"He always is when we drop by", Pat shrugged, frowning again when Buffy shook her head, the serious tone of her voice showing that she meant every word when she replied. "Not like this. You should have been there, he practically begged me to just go and to leave him alone until, and I quote, this business with Morgan has been sorted out. So he knows who he is, better than he did when you went there, and he's scared of him."

"So we don't really know anything new", the demon grumbled, deciding to just buy this for now – after all, Buffy knew the snitch longer than she did, and the black haired woman figured that she knew what she was talking about, "except that he terrified Willy enough to make sure he won't talk."

"Not just that", Buffy sighed, giving her an unhappy look, "he simultaneously cut off the only source for information about him we have. So now we're back to square one, while he's out there, making plans, and there's just two days left to figure out how to stop him from killing Willow and taking all her power."

"Great", Pat sighed, making the Slayer nod glumly; they exchanged another unhappy look, then the demon sat down at the kitchen table and ran one hand through her hair in exasperation, her mind starting to race again as she tried to figure out what they could do now, how to stop this man before he got the jump on them and fulfilled the malicious plans he had for the witch and the child she was carrying.


	17. Chapter 17

"There still has to be something we can do", the demon grumbled half an hour later, after a brief trip outside for a cigarette – she had been trying to cut back lately, ever since they had found out that Willow was pregnant and smoking in closed rooms next to her wasn't an option anymore, but after the bad news from Buffy, a smoke had been essential, even though it hadn't calmed her down as much as she had hoped it would.

"We can't just sit around and wait for him to strike", she went on when Buffy didn't respond at once, "even if Willy won't help us, there has to be some other way to find him, a spell perhaps, or maybe someone else knows something…"

"If anyone does, I doubt it'll be someone willing to talk to us", the blonde pointed out in response, making her grumble again, "Willy's our only real contact to the demon world, and he's not talking. Any of his guests won't, either."

"True", Pat had to admit, sighing in dismay, briefly longing for another cigarette, then telling herself that this would neither help with their problem, nor with cutting back, "a spell then, maybe, one to find him…"

"We better ask Willow about this once she woke up", Buffy nodded, knowing that it was a long shot, but the only idea they had so far – after all, they didn't even know if Morgan was human, and if he was, finding him would be difficult, especially since they didn't have any of his personal belongings.

Still, she figured it was better than just sitting around and waiting for the man to make his move; briefly, she asked herself why these powerhungry maniacs always had to find out about Sunnydale and the rather peculiar people living there and then of course had to come here and make trouble for them, as if dealing with the regular vampires, demons and the odd apocalypse wasn't stressful enough.

"If anyone can do it, Willow can", the taller woman now said, distracting her from those thoughts, "I bet she's powerful enough, even if we have none of his belongings."

"From the level of power, I don't doubt that", Buffy nodded, having to admit that the black haired woman was right, "but it might not be easy anyway. Still, it's our best bet, and better than just sitting around and waiting for him to hit, as you said."

"Indeed", the demon agreed with a sigh, getting up from her seat, knowing that for now, all they could do was wait again, despite their best intentions to not do exactly that, even though they'd wait for Willow to wake up and not for Morgan to make his move; she took a moment to stretch, then moved to the coffee machine, glad to see that the can was still halfway full.

"Let's hope she can do something", she commented as she moved to the cupboard, helping herself to a clean cup while Buffy nodded, "cause I'm really out of ideas if she can't. I could have used my awesome assassin tracking powers if we had more time, but just two days isn't enough."

"Also, you might be out of practice", the Slayer told her at once, taking the chance given to tease and to lighten the mood at the same time, giggling at the look the demon threw her for that, "I mean, it has been years since you used those skills, hasn't it?"

"Yes, but it's like riding a bicycle", Pat argued back, moving to the fridge to get the milk after she had warmed the coffee by briefly holding the cup in a flaming hand, "once one knows how to do that, it's impossible to forget it again. It might take some practice to really get back into it, but—"

As she had been speaking, she'd closed the fridge and had turned to face the Slayer again; and now, as she took a step towards her, the window shattered, the cup in her hand doing the same the blink of an eye later, the loud bang following a second later, both the demon and the Slayer reacting quickly, dropping down to the floor and behind the protection of the kitchen counter without missing a beat.

"Shit", Pat growled, unable to keep herself from flinching when another shot echoed, hitting the wall at the other end of the room, "that bastard really is serious about killing me!"

"Obviously", Buffy gave back, keeping her head low, not wanting to be shot at even though she knew she wasn't the man's target; holding her breath, she waited for the next shot, even though Morgan had to know it would be for nothing, possibly wasn't even able to spot the demon in this very moment.

"Goddamn bastard", Pat now grumbled, torn between the urge to look up and see if now, he was approaching the house for another try and the fear of getting a bullet in her head the moment she'd do so; before she could make up her mind though, footsteps from the first floor reached her ears, and she grit her teeth in frustration as she realized what they meant.

"Shit!" she cursed again, for once not minding the request Willow had made to her about cleaning up her language so she wouldn't use such words once the baby had been born, "Willow's gotten up, if she's moving around up there, he can take a shot at her!"

"But he doesn't want to kill her yet", Buffy pointed out, following the demon when she started hurrying across the kitchen as fast as she could, still making sure to stay low so she wouldn't give their opponent another chance to fire at her; without slowing down, she briefly glanced back at the blonde, now unable to hide her dread as she replied. "No, not yet, but that won't stop him from trying to injure her, and I'm not going to let that happen!"

And with those words, before the blonde had a chance to reply, she hurried out the kitchen door, almost running, the fact that she had to do so hunched over to present a smaller target only marginally slowing her down.

Even though it was harder to hit her with how fast she was moving, it didn't stop Morgan from trying; the bullet was fired just as she reached the stairs, taking a chunk of wood out of the bannister, another low curse coming from the demon as she tried to duck down even further, her need to reach the witch only growing when she heard Willow call out for her upstairs, a hint of fear in her voice.

"Get down!" Pat hollered back, moving up the stairs as fast as she could, knowing that she was way too out in the open on the stairway, the perfect chance to Morgan to shoot her in the head or back, "it's Morgan, get down and find cover!"

Momentarily, the witch wanted to run back into the bedroom, then remembered the unsettlingly big window there; and thus, she ducked into the bathroom instead, the room with the smallest window, sitting with her back against the bathtub, her heart racing in her chest as she listened as hard as she could, trying to figure out if her partner had been hit or if she was on her way to join her.

"I'm in here!" she called out when she heard footsteps approach hurriedly; and moments later, Pat came almost sliding into the bathroom, letting out a heavy breath once she had made it there safely, relief filling the witch as well when a quick, but thorough look told her that the demon hadn't been hit by the bullets Morgan had fired at her.

"Buffy's downstairs", the demon breathed as soon as her racing heart had slowed down enough to let her speak without a tremble in her voice, the fact that Willow hadn't been injured making this easier for her, "but he's not after her, she should be fine…"

"Let's hope so", Willow gave back, fighting the urge to poke her head out of the bathroom door, knowing she wouldn't be able to see anything and would only give Morgan another target, "we really don't want her to get shot, cause if you give your healing to her then, all your injuries from the explosion will come back."

"Dammit, you're right", Pat grumbled, not liking this at all, hating how helpless it made her feel to have this guy snipering for them from some hiding place, "what a coward, he at least could try to attack me out in the open, where I have a chance to fight back!"

"Well, he seems not too big on the hand to hand", the witch replied, getting comfortable with her back against the tub, figuring they would stay in there a bit longer, "if magic is his strong suit, he probably won't be much good at fighting."

"Good thing he's also not all too good at shooting", the taller woman said with a sigh, leaning against the bathtub next to her and making her smile slightly as she grasped her hand, "cause if he was, he'd have hit me a dozen times before I made it up the stairs."

"Good thing indeed", Willow replied with a grimace, "but honestly, I wonder what he is trying to accomplish with that. If he shot you and, the Goddess forbid, killed you, what does he think would have happened? I would probably have gone dark, gone after him, and killed him, there's not much he'd be able to do against that darkness, with the equinox and the alignment not happening yet."

"No idea", Pat shrugged in response, clearly not as concerned about this man's reasons to be after her as her wife, "maybe he just wants me out of the way. No one seems to know if physical strength will be affected during that alignment thing, and if he really sucks at the hand to hand, he might just be worried that I'll kick his ass."

"Which is not unrealistic", the witch pointed out, making the demon smirk slightly in response; after a second, the redhead smiled back at her, then Buffy's voice drifted up from downstairs, distracting them from their moment and making them both automatically look towards the bathroom door.

"I think he's gone", the Slayer called out to them, "at least, no one tried to shoot me when I poked my head out into the hallway."

"Or perhaps he just doesn't want to shoot you", Willow gave back, raising her voice as well; next to her, Pat shrugged while downstairs, Buffy frowned, the demon speaking up before the Slayer had the chance to reply anything.

"Well", she stated, not sounding all too worried even though what she had in mind was quite dangerous, "only one way to find out."

Even though she wasn't all too happy with what her partner was about to do, the witch merely nodded, not even noticing how she held her breath as the demon got up from her seat on the floor, then moved to the door; there, she stopped for a moment, taking in a deep breath as if to brace herself for the possibility of getting shot any second – before she stepped outside, her whole body tensing up in anticipation of a bullet hitting her.

For a few seconds, she remained that way, fighting the urge to glance left and right, knowing it wouldn't be of any use; then, she relaxed, Willow letting out the breath she had been holding behind her and coming to her feet again as well.

"Seems like he's really gone", Pat commented, turning to look at her, "perhaps got bored waiting, or scared someone might find him lying in wait with the sniper rifle."

"I'm just glad he's gone for now", the witch gave back, grimacing as she pressed one hand against the small of her back – she hadn't been sitting on the cold floor for long, but apparently, combined with her pregnancy, it had been long enough to make her back tense up something fierce, "just imagine spending hours in the bathroom with no way to get out."

"That'd be like our holiday in Maine, only smaller", the taller woman dryly replied, making the redhead giggle and nod; the demon briefly smiled back at her, then bent down for a brief, but tender kiss, before they made their way downstairs together, both of them eager to join Buffy again and start working on finding the man before he would make yet another move against them, knowing that now, it was time to act and that merely waiting for him to do so was no longer an option.


	18. Chapter 18

"So, how dangerous exactly is this spell?" Pat wanted to know an hour later, back in the bedroom; downstairs, they could hear Buffy and Xander talking, the young man having come over to fix the window Morgan's first shot had shattered, the noise being cut off when the demon closed the door, making sure Willow would have the quiet she needed to do the spell successfully.

"Depends", the witch let her know while she made her way back to the bed and moved to sit behind her, a content groan escaping the redhead when she felt her lover's strong fingers begin to work on her tense muscles, "if he thought of blocking any attempts to locate him with magic, it might backfire spectacularly. If he didn't, it might still go wrong, considering he's most likely human and I have nothing of his—" She interrupted herself with a small yelp as the demon's fingers found an exceptionally tense spot and pushed down on it, grimacing in dismay when immediately, Pat stopped the backrub, concern in her voice when she asked if she had hurt her.

"No", she reassured her, "well, not in a bad way, anyway. In that good, tense-muscles-relaxing kind of way. Please go on?"

Behind her, the demon let out a low chuckle, then continued the massage without another word; briefly closing her eyes, Willow enjoyed it in silence for a minute or two, then forced herself to focus on the task at hand again, clearing her throat before she went on.

"As I was saying", she began again, "since I have nothing of his personal belongings, it's dangerous even if he didn't think of blocking off the magic. I'm pretty sure I can do it though, I've done it before, so…"

"And if it backfires?" Pat demanded to know, while her hands slid further down, to the small of the redhead's back, the demon remembering well that she'd been in pain there when they had left the cover of the bathroom, "what happens then? Nosebleed?"

"Possibly", Willow had to admit, knowing her partner wouldn't like hearing this, "or I might faint, depending on how badly it backfires. So I better do it sitting down."

"Yes", the demon agreed with a sigh, her tone of voice and the way how her fingers stopped working the tense muscles for a second showing that she indeed did not like it, "if we had any other way to find him, I wouldn't let him do this, but right now, this is the only chance we have. Just promise me you'll be careful."

"Of course", Willow reassured her at once, making her stop the backrub yet again, this time by turning on the bed so she could face her, tenderly grasping both hands in hers, "as much as I can be. I want to find and stop him, but without endangering myself or our child."

"I know", the black haired woman gave back, squeezing her hands slightly and making her smile, "but you know I don't like it when you're in danger, be it from magic or from a crazy guy out to steal your powers."

"Or the millions of other dangerous situations we always find ourselves in", the witch replied with a small smile, prompting Pat to let out a slightly rueful chuckle while she nodded; with her smile widening slightly, Willow reached up with one hand to tenderly run her fingers down the demon's cheek, then pulled her closer for a kiss, comfortable warmth spreading through her when she felt the taller woman's arms wrap around her in response.

For a little while longer, she allowed herself to simply enjoy the embrace and the kiss, pushing any worries about Morgan and the spell she had to do to find him to the far back of her mind; then, she couldn't ignore the nagging voice of obligation any longer and forced herself to pull back, the massage and the kiss to her happiness having relaxed her enough to let her attempt the spell without any danger of losing her calm and concentration.

"Alright", she mumbled, making it clear to her wife that it was time to get to work, even before she spoke on, "let's get this started then…"

"Should I leave?" Pat wanted to know in response, watching how the witch got up from the bed and moved to the bag they had brought from their home, getting out the small box of supplies she had dubbed her magical first aid kit, an earthen bowl and a map of Sunnydale; shaking her head as she turned back to look at her, she gave her another smile while she sat down on the floor, carefully placing the map, the bowl and the ingredients in front of her before she spoke up again.

"I'd prefer you not to", she let the taller woman know, "having you here will help to keep me grounded, in case something goes horribly wrong, which hopefully doesn't happen, but you never know, with the dark magic and everything…"

"It's going to be okay", Pat reassured her in response, saying exactly what she needed to hear; giving her best to keep her calm, Willow made herself smile and nod, then took in a deep breath, her eyes slowly closing as she focused completely on the magic, her breath slowing until an untrained observer might have thought that she had gone to sleep, while in reality, she was almost sinking into a trance, preparing her body and for the complicated spell she had to perform.

From her seat on the bed, Pat watched slightly nervous how the witch began the spellwork, picking up one of the ingredients with slow, almost dreamlike movements, and without opening her eyes; despite that, she clearly knew when she had to put which herb or powder into the bowl, whispering softly under her breath as she did so, her hand not wavering the slightest, her low chanting never faltering for even a second.

During all the time they had been together, and during the countless times she had witnessed her doing magic, Pat couldn't remember a time when she had been like this, focused so deeply that she was close to a trance; and with her knowledge of how powerful Willow was, and how experienced with using all sorts of magic, this only showed her how difficult exactly this spell was, prompting her to grit her teeth in frustration as she knew that there wasn't much she could do to help.

In the past, she had aided her wife during the more difficult spells, by letting her tap into her power, her potential for magic, once even had let her do so in a church, despite the discomfort she had felt in the building; somehow though, she knew that this time, this wasn't an option, the magic too complicated and fragile to let Willow use her raw power, power which might do more harm than good if it was harnessed for such delicate work.

Thus, all she could do was sit there, watch and hope that nothing would go wrong; by now, she had witnessed magic often enough to realize that something was happening just as Willow threw the last herb into the bowl, the fine hairs in the back of her neck suddenly rising as a diffuse feeling of dread filled her, a sudden security that something was fundamentally wrong, goosebumps quickly spreading all over her body.

Fighting the urge to say something, to try and tear Willow out of this trance, Pat shifted on the bed, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what to do; before she could come up with anything though, the witch suddenly opened her eyes, and she had a second to be relieved about the fact that they were their natural emerald colour and hadn't gone black – before she saw the fear and discomfort in them, her worry immediately spiking again, rising to new heights.

"He's close", the witch breathed, her hands clenching into fists without her even noticing, "I can feel it, and he… he's doing something…"

Just as she had said the last word, several things happened at once; their eyes met, then moved down to the map where a glowing dot flickered into existence, pointing out Morgan's location right there in Buffy's backyard, but before they could do more than realize this, the world around them _shifted_ , an unpleasant change which made them both feel nauseous and dizzy, the witch still hearing her partner call out her name with a hint of fear in her voice before their opponent's magic hit fully and the spell took hold of them.

* * *

Teleportation spells, Willow had learned during the last few years, never were pleasant, not if they were cast by the one teleported and even less so when someone else did them, and the worst variant was being teleported against one's will, as she experienced it now, her stomach turning and her head swimming when Morgan's spell ended.

Momentarily, she was confused about where they had been sent, having expected some sort of dark and creepy cave, or an abandoned house perhaps, a place where he could do what he wanted to them without any danger of anyone butting in; instead, she found herself still in Buffy's house, in another room though, Pat right there with her, standing at the window and looking just as nauseous as she was feeling.

"I think I'm gonna throw up", the demon brought out in a trembling voice, burping after the last words, thankfully without anything coming along, "what the…"

"He… moved us", Willow gave back, once she could be sure she wouldn't do what her partner had so narrowly avoided, "but we're still in Buffy's house, just another bedroom, I don't see why…"

She fell silent all at once as she remembered, blaming how long this had taken her on the confusion caused by the teleportation – it was the bedroom Tara and she had been using when they had been living there with Dawn, before and after Buffy had been resurrected, and the room…

"This is where she died", she brought out in a breathless voice, the need to throw up suddenly increasing – she had been to this room a million times since it had happened, and by now, at least usually, it wasn't upsetting anymore, but now, the dread was back, the horrible feeling that something terrible was about to happen and that there was nothing she could do to stop it.

 _The window!_ her mind shrieked at her, barely audible over her racing heart and the blood rushing in her ears, _tell her to get away from the window, she's standing right there, tell her to get away!_

She tried to remind herself that this was Pat and not Tara, that the tragedy which had happened in this room had happened years ago; the dread was still there though, sending cold shivers up and down her spine, making her heart beat so fast in her chest that it hurt.

"Get away", she forced herself to say, managing to keep enough of the fearful tremble out of her voice so Pat could actually understand what she was saying, "please, get away from the window…"

 _You think you can just do that to me!_

It wasn't an actual voice she heard, not reaching her ears, but being projected right into her brain; from the startled look on her face, she could tell that Pat had heard it, too, and even though she had met Warren only briefly, when he had made his way back from Hell to get his revenge, Willow could tell that she recognized the voice, her good eye briefly widening as she put two and two together and realized what was happening, realized that somehow, Morgan had put them into what was one of Willow's worst nightmares, one of the most horrible things she ever had gone through.

 _You think I'd let you get away with that!_ He laughed, the insane, high-pitched sound grating on their nerves, the projection straight into their minds only making it worse, and even though she knew what would happen next, Willow found herself unable to move, incoherent sounds leaving her mouth when she tried to speak, Morgan's spell making sure that, no matter what she tried, events would play out just as they had back then, with no chance for her to stop or change them.

 _Think again._

His voice wasn't real, Willow knew that it wasn't, knew that he had been dead for years, even after he had been killed a second time and had been sent back to Hell.

The bullet _was_ real, and it smashed the window just as it had back then, with Tara, and just like back then, blood splattered her face, chest and arms as it effortlessly went all the way through, her breath catching in her throat as she felt it hot and sticky on her skin.

Just like with Tara, there was no sign of pain in Pat's expression, only mild surprise, and a bit of confusion; she opened her mouth as if to say something, the witch's heart shattering when a strangely wet-sounding gurgle was all that came from her, along with bright red blood which trickled down her lips and chin to the floor – and then she crumpled, just like Tara had, the sight of her going down finally breaking the hold the magic had had on Willow and allowing her to move again.

"No," she brought out as she did just that, stumbling towards her, hearing Buffy call out from downstairs, but unable to react to it, "no, no, no… please, not again, no…"

She took another step towards the demon, the metallic smell of blood hitting her nostrils now and making her stomach turn again, tears blurring her sight when she realized that the demon wasn't moving, but just lying there, just as lifeless as…

 _No. She's not dead, she's not dead, she can't be dead, Goddess please, she can't be dead, please please please please…_

"I'm sorry it had to be this way", Morgan's voice reached her ears, accompanied by fast footsteps behind her, a quick gesture of the man making the door slam shut, Buffy's cursing drifting through the wood as she unsuccessfully tried to open it, then started punching and kicking it.

"Willow!" the witch heard her shout, Morgan just briefly glancing at the door before his gaze focused on the redhead again, ignoring both Buffy and the motionless figure lying at his feet completely now; he moved over to where Willow stood, the witch not moving a muscle, her gaze fixed on her partner, her lips trembling just enough to let him notice as she tried to deal with this, tried to wrap her mind around the cruelty he had put her through.

"Come with me", he told her in a low, kind voice, reaching out and taking hold of her arm, "I can make all the pain stop. I'll make it all go away, just come with me."

His grip on her tightened, not enough to hurt, but enough to make sure she couldn't just slip out of his grasp; she made no move to try though, the shock having taken full hold of her by now, making her feel strangely numb and detached as she stood there, looking at the lifeless form of her partner.

"Come on", Morgan mumbled into her ear, pulling her closer to himself, "let's get out of here."

His arm wrapped around her, holding her with surprising tenderness; she felt a brief surge of power, and then they were gone, his magic taking her away as effortlessly as he had recreated her worst nightmare, leaving no trace of her and himself behind.


	19. Chapter 19

After withstanding her assault for annoyingly long, the door suddenly did give in to her kicks, so fast and unexpectedly that Buffy nearly ended up falling flat on her face; she managed to regain her balance in the last second, still stumbling as she burst into the bedroom, only to stop dead in her tracks the blink of an eye later as she took in the scene and her brain struggled to process what she was seeing.

"Oh God", she heard Dawn say behind her, in a strangely high-pitched, breathless voice; had the circumstances been different, she might have turned to look at her now, might have asked her if she was okay or might have sharply told her to not freak out on her now, but as it was, she found herself perilously close to freaking out herself, and had to use every ounce of willpower and strength she had to not freeze on the spot and just stand there staring like a big moron.

"Oh my God", Dawn repeated behind her, and that tore her out of her reverie and got her moving, a few strides taking her to the window and to the demon lying there, her gaze darting back and forth as she tried to figure out what had happened, how Pat had been hurt and how bad it was, and what had happened to Willow, with the witch nowhere in sight and Buffy knowing that she never would have left voluntarily, not with her wife hurt God knew how badly.

"Is she…?" Dawn asked, in a slightly steadier, but still trembling voice; after a brief glance back at her, making sure now that she wouldn't faint, Buffy knelt down next to the taller woman, not caring about the blood she got on her pants in the process, her heart painfully skipping a beat when she saw the injuries now, one at her back and one at her front, her eyes going wide as she realized what had happened, everything clicking together in her head and making it obvious how Morgan had taken her down and why it had been easy for him to just snatch Willow afterwards.

"This is just like…" her sister realized behind her just a few seconds later than she did, finding herself unable to finish the sentence; nodding, Buffy forced herself to focus on the demon again, telling herself that she had to find out if Pat was still alive first or if she had died like Tara had back then, the fact that the demon laid in almost exactly the same position Dawn had found the blonde in only making this harder for her.

"Call Giles", she instructed her sister while she moved black and red hair aside, away from the taller woman's neck, and began searching for a pulse, "we need to find this guy and stop him before the equinox and the alignment, get Willow away from him…"

Even though she wanted to stay and find out if Pat was still alive or if whoever had shot her had killed her, Dawn nodded, knowing that they had no time to waste; and while she hurried off to call the Watcher, Buffy took in a deep breath, her fingers trembling slightly as she lowered them onto the demon's neck, hoping and praying to anyone who might be listening that she was still alive and that her best friend wouldn't be forced to bury yet another loved one.

* * *

The room he had put her in was furnished surprisingly comfortable, with a soft bed and a relatively new table; she noticed nothing of the comfort though as she sat on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, staring into nothingness as despair kept growing within her.

Perhaps, if she had been thinking clearly, Willow might have been able to come up with a plan to get out of this, to break free from the hold Morgan had put on her; it might have been enough to realize that not all of the dark thoughts were her own, that Morgan was whispering them right into the core of her mind, feeding her pain and despair and insecurity, making sure to catch her in a spiral of depression which only would lead her further and further down, and keep her from making any plans.

 _She's dead, you know she is,_ the small voice told her, her heart shattering even further at the mere thought, something she hadn't even thought possible moments ago, _he shot her, just like Tara, and now she's dead, just like Tara... You bring pain and death to everyone you love, how often has she gotten hurt because of you? This was just the final curtain call for her, one hit too many she took, and it's your fault, you couldn't help her just like you couldn't help Tara…_

She squeezed her eyes shut to hold back tears, a shudder running through her body as her thoughts pained her so much that it almost hurt physically; still they wouldn't stop though, going on and on and on, telling her how useless she was and how all she ever brought to those she loved was pain and misery and death.

 _Even to your child,_ Morgan's magic whispered into her mind, still unnoticed and unrecognized for what it was, _before it even has been born. You experienced first hand what it means to grow up with neglectful parents and now your failure made your child a half-orphan while it's still in the womb._

"I'm sorry", the witch whispered, unaware of the fact that in the room next to hers, Morgan's lips curled in a small smile as his spell did just what he had been aiming for; it had taken hold much better than he had thought it would, with all the fear and terrifying things the witch and her partner experienced on an almost daily basis, the magic easily finding her most hidden and darkest thoughts and amplifying them until they were all she could think about.

 _I could have lived for centuries, for millennia,_ the voice in her mind now changed, to the deep and hoarse voice of her lover, _I gave it up, for you, and you let me die…_

"I'm sorry", Willow whimpered in response, now losing the fight against her tears, sobbing quietly as they started to roll down her cheeks, "I'm sorry, I didn't… I wanted to…"

Her growing despair only made the magic stronger, allowing it to use new outlets for tormenting her, her sobs getting caught in her throat when out of nowhere, Pat appeared in front of her, standing at the foot end of the bed and looking at her, her dreadfully pale skin and empty gaze making it more than obvious that she was dead even before she opened her mouth and went on, her voice sounding hollow and lifeless, sending shivers up and down the redhead's spine.

"I gave up immortality, for you", she accused her yet again, "I did so much for you, and you let me die…"

"Please", Willow brought out in response, pressing herself against the wall behind her in a helpless attempt to get away from this horrible sight and those painful accusations, "please, I… I'm sorry… please, I love you…"

"If you love me so damn much, why didn't you save me", the demon accused in response, glaring at her, the anger in her gaze so massive that it made the witch flinch, "you could have saved me, you could have changed things, but you let it happen, you just watched… that's all you ever do, you just watched when I lost my eye, when that wolf bitch was tearing me apart, when the Immortals were torturing me!"

All Willow could do in response was to let out a breathless whimper, her heart hammering up to her throat when a thick, dark red stream of blood started to trickle out from beneath the eyepatch; and a few seconds later, dark stains started forming on her clothes as other, older wounds reopened, blood soon pooling on the floor around her feet.

"No", Willow whimpered, trying to shrink back from her even further, then squeezing her eyes shut so she wouldn't have to see this anymore, "no… I'm sorry, no, please, no…"

"Look at me", the demon snarled, speaking to her in a tone she only had used for their enemies before and never against her, not even during their rare fights, "look at what you did!"

"Please", the witch sobbed in reply, curling up on her side as all the anger and hatred in the taller woman's voice was too much to bear, "please, I'm sorry, please stop it… stop…"

"I said look at me!" Pat bellowed in response, and then blood shot from her mouth in a high-pressure stream; and on the bed, Willow screamed as it splattered onto her clothes and face and body, heavy sobs racking her body afterwards as she laid there, her guilt and despair consuming her until nothing else was left and all she could do was cry and whimper for the pain to stop while in the next room, still unbeknownst to her, Morgan smiled.


	20. Chapter 20

Finally, there was silence, after what seemed like an eternity of people telling her what a failure she was; at first it had been her lover, then Buffy, then Dawn, Tara, her parents, a never-ending stream of those who were close to her and those who should have been close to her, until it finally had stopped and she was alone again, alone with her thoughts and the crushing guilt.

By now, there were no more tears left to cry, and so, she just laid there quietly, staring into nothingness; she had sobbed so long and hard that now, there was a deep-seated pain in her chest, growing into sharp pangs whenever she breathed too deeply, and she dully wondered if perhaps, she had endangered her child with this, only another failure she could add to the endless list if she had.

 _Maybe you'll kill your child before it's even born,_ she morbidly thought to herself, _you already made sure it'd grow up without Pat, so why not finish the job…_

The thought nearly made her cry again, even though she had been sure minutes ago that she was all cried out; for a moment, she almost apologized again, to her child and to anyone else who might hear it, then remained silent after all, telling herself that it was too late to apologize and that it wasn't of any use, none of those who had shown up to accuse her having reacted the slightest to her pleas for forgiveness.

From somewhere outside, some sort of commotion reached her ears, but she found herself unable to care about it; surely, it was nothing of importance, the redhead simply knowing that nobody was coming to save her, not after all the things her friends and loved ones had told her, all the accusations they had made.

Despite her lack of caring about it, the loud bang made her flinch, a movement she involuntarily repeated when she heard a man scream moments later; another scream followed the first one, then a low thump, and after that, hurried footsteps approached the door leading to her room, the redhead somehow finding the strength to turn her head and look at it as it opened, a strange feeling of tiredness and numbness washing over her when she saw who was behind it.

"Willow", Pat started, then fell silent as she took a second, closer look at her wife, the relief she briefly had felt at finding her alive and unharmed vanishing into nothingness, burned up by the sudden concern as she took in the witch's red-rimmed eyes and tear-streaked cheeks, fresh hatred against the man who was responsible for this mixing with her worries, and briefly making her wish that she could go back and hit him again, even though he was out cold, surprised by the attack they had launched at him.

"What did he do to you", she demanded to know, entering the room and moving closer to the bed the redhead was lying on, horrible thoughts of molesting and rape entering her mind even though her wife's clothing seemed undamaged, "Willow, what…"

She froze when the witch flinched at her approach, then turned away from her, staring at the opposite wall again; for a few moments, the room was silent as neither of them was moving a muscle, then Willow spoke up at last, in a voice hoarse from crying, the sound making her lover's heart clench up.

"I'm sorry", the witch mumbled, barely above a whisper, "I'm sorry, please… Just leave me be, I know I'm a failure, I know, just…"

"What", Pat gave back, flabbergasted, not having an idea about the magic Morgan had worked on her wife while he had been alone with her, "what are you saying? Willow, what did he do to you?"

"I'm sorry", the redhead repeated in reply, a sudden cold shiver running down the demon's spine as she thought back to the time she had seen her in a similar state, after she had been drugged and put in sensory deprivation by a power-hungry scientist, "I'm sorry I let you die, after all you did for me…"

"I didn't die", Pat told her, saying the first thing which came to her mind, even though she was aware of how stupid it had to sound, "I know what he did, and why he did it, but I'm not dead, I'm alive and well…"

Even though Willow looked as if she was dreadfully scared of her, she moved closer to the bed, making sure to do so slowly, not wanting to freak her out even more; to her relief, the redhead didn't try to move away from her as she lowered herself to sit on the bed next to her, even though she did stiffen, a hint of fear in her eyes as their gazes met.

"Look", she added, not sure if this was the best course of action, but finding herself unable to come up with anything else, "I'm fine. It all healed up, I'm okay."

Still moving slowly, she reached out with one hand, tenderly placing it on the redhead's; again she felt Willow stiffen, but at least, the smaller woman didn't try to pull back, merely glancing down, then up at her face again, still looking scared, but not as freaked out as she had a minute ago.

"I don't understand", she then mumbled, running her free hand through her hair, said hand shaking just enough to let the demon notice, "you… you were here, telling me I let you die, and it was just like with Tara…"

"It was", the taller woman agreed at once, hurriedly speaking on as this obviously only confused the witch further, "it was _exactly_ like with Tara. And that's why it didn't work out the way he wanted it to, the bullet came through the window at exactly the same angle. If I had been the same size as Tara, well, I would have been dead, but…"

"…but you're not", Willow finished for her, realization slowly dawning as she took a closer look at her partner at last; she hadn't bothered to change after healing, and the hole in her shirt where the bullet had gone out was still there, slightly below her chest, blood having dried on her skin and the fabric of the shirt to ugly, reddish-brown splotches.

"Nope", Pat confirmed, smiling slightly now, glad she had gotten through to her, "I'm not. So instead of going right through my heart and killing me, the bullet went out through my ribcage and… well, almost killed me, too. I'm a tough cookie though, so it didn't."

"This time", Willow mumbled in response, her gaze dropping as she swallowed heavily; even though Morgan was out cold, the demon having taken care of him rather efficiently after they had burst in on him doing his magic on her, "but… what you, the other, less pleasant you, said, that's still true, I didn't do anything to help, I just stood there and watched… you've done so much for me, and all I did was stand and stare… Again, just like when you lost your eye and when you were tortured and during all those other times you got hurt because of me…"

"There wasn't much else you could have done", Pat pointed out, still holding her hand tenderly, almost absent-mindedly caressing the back of it with her thumb, "not with that spell he used to accomplish that."

To her dismay, Willow just shrugged in response, still avoiding it to look at her; and once more, the demon cursed herself for her inability to find the right words in such situations, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what she could say to make it better.

As she did so often in such moments though, she was drawing a complete blank, none of the words and phrases which came to her good enough; and thus, she did the only other thing she could think of – she leaned in and kissed the redhead, giving her best to put all her feelings and the reassurance that it would be okay into the kiss, her heart happily skipping a beat when after a moment, Willow responded.

Feeling a bit more confident about this approach, the demon shifted slightly on the bed so she could pull the witch into an embrace without breaking the kiss; and this time, Willow reacted at once, wrapping both arms around her, as well, a shudder running through the smaller woman as she almost pressed herself against her wife, with the sudden need to reassure herself that this was real and happening.

Finally, she had to pull back again, before endangering both Willow and herself of passing out from lack of oxygen; their eyes met after the kiss had ended, and to her immense relief, the witch was smiling slightly now, a small and weak smile, nothing compared to the radiant happy ones she normally gave her, but a smile nonetheless.

"It'll be okay", Pat finally did say one of the phrases she had written off as useless minutes ago, figuring that it still was better than just sitting there in silence, "whatever he did to you, we'll fix it and it'll be okay."

Even though she wasn't so sure about this, still feeling guilty about everything which had happened to the demon ever since they had started dating, Willow made herself nod; smiling at her, Pat briefly squeezed her hand, then got up from the bed, prompting her to do the same, her smile widening slightly when the taller woman immediately took hold of her hand again the moment they both were standing.

"Come on", the demon stated, nodding towards the door, "let's make sure Buffy and Giles got Morgan all tied up and then get out of here."

"What are we gonna do with him?" Willow wanted to know as they made their way to the door and then outside together, more to distract herself from her guilt than out of real interest for Morgan's fate; in response, the taller woman shrugged, stopping right in front of the next door and keeping her voice down as she responded, making it clear to the witch that their opponent was behind said door.

"I'm not sure", she murmured, her brow furrowing, "I'm all for killing him, which is probably not surprising, but Buffy and Giles didn't get on that train with me because of him being human. Giles said something about containment, so perhaps they'll just lock him up until the equinox alignment crap is over."

"Might work", the witch had to admit, even though she didn't mind the thought of her partner killing the man as much as she probably should have, not after everything he had done, "he won't have any reason to go after us anymore after the alignment…"

"Except for revenge", Pat grumbled, the redhead frowning as well as she had to realize that this was a good point; then, the demon shrugged and, still in a low voice, told her they still had more than enough time to decide that and that they should join the others now, before they'd start worrying what was taking her so long.

Nodding, Willow took in a deep breath, telling herself that she could face this man without freaking, despite all the terrible things he had done; Pat gave her hand another reassuring squeeze, then pushed the door open, the room behind it so small that it was almost crowded with Buffy and Giles standing there and Morgan sitting on the floor, his hands bound behind his back.

"Found her", Pat stated the obvious, while both the Slayer and the Brit briefly looked startled at the witch's appearance, both of them after just one glance able to tell that she had been crying; before they could ask her what had happened though, the demon had let go of her and strode over to where Morgan was sitting, glaring down on him, her eye briefly flashing up red as she demanded to know what he had done to her wife.

"Not much", Morgan replied with a shrug, quite the feat with the way his hands were tied behind him, "just a few pushes into the right direction. You're really hard to kill, you know that?"

"Don't change the topic", Pat grumbled at him in reply, annoyed by how calm he seemed despite the situation he now was in, "from what she said to me, you made her feel like the worst human being on earth, so don't tell me you didn't do much to her and spit it out."

"That's the truth", Morgan gave back, still unperturbed, even smiling a little now, "all I did was use a spell to… feed certain emotions. I didn't even need to make anything up."

"What are you talking about", the demon demanded, while Buffy and Giles gave the redhead a startled look; they hadn't been there to witness what Willow had said to Pat, but from the way she was staring at the floor now, once again looking as if she was close to tears, it was obvious that it hadn't been anything pleasant.

"Just what I said", Morgan told the taller woman, making them all sans Willow look at him again, "I took a bit of magic and used it on her despair and all that guilt she carries. That was all I did, just… enhancing and feeding her emotions. I just used what was already there."


	21. Chapter 21

After it had been settled that at least for now, they wouldn't kill Morgan, but take him into custody until the equinox and the alignment were over, Buffy and Giles left with their prisoner, taking the Brit's car; they had offered to give the couple a ride, but they both had declined, figuring they had stuff to talk about and this should be done sooner rather than later.

"You never said anything about this", Pat was the one to bring it up after their friends had driven off with their captive, the couple standing in front of the house to which he had taken Willow, "about… all this guilt."

Once again, the witch found it hard to look at her as she shook her head, her gaze fixated on the sidewalk between her feet; after the magic Morgan had used on her, she had to admit to herself that she had been carrying all of this around with her for too long, always pushed to the darkest corners of her mind, where she could more or less ignore it all, and go on with her life, never showing these feelings to her friends and her lover, most of the time not even admitting to herself that they were there.

"Why not", Pat wanted to know, giving her best to sound calm and reasonable – she wasn't angry at her wife, but still agitated, finding it hard to believe that she'd only learned about this now, that Willow had hidden it so well from her, and knowing that she probably never would have found out about it, had Morgan not used that certain spell on her.

"I'm not angry or anything", she hurriedly added, not wanting to make her feel even worse, "I just… Why didn't you talk to me? You've been carrying all this around, all this time, and you never said a word…"

"I've gotten pretty good at ignoring it", the witch mumbled in response, still not looking at her, "most of the time. Talking about it would… have made it more real I guess, harder to deal with, so I just…"

"Sweetie", Pat gave back when she fell silent, once more fighting hard to hold the tears at bay, "you know you don't have to do this. You can talk to me, anytime, about anything. Jesus, if I had known…"

"We always have to deal with so much", Willow reminded her of their not exactly boring lives, "and I… I guess I didn't want to add to those burdens with my problems…"

"Don't think like that", the demon told her at once, stepping closer to her and pulling her into an embrace, "I'll always be there for you, no matter what you want to talk about, don't ever think I won't…"

The tender hug, along with her words, finally caused Willow to lose the fight, and she let out a small sob, burying her face in the taller woman's chest afterwards to stifle the noise of her crying; she didn't know if it was still Morgan's magic which made her feel so terrible or if this time, it came all from her, but figured that, in the end, it didn't really matter, all the walls she so carefully had constructed around all the guilt and bad feelings breaking down as she cried in her lover's arms.

"Good", she heard the black haired woman mumble, her embrace tightening while she started rubbing her shaking back, "let it all out, you'll feel better afterwards, I promise."

"I'm sorry", Willow brought out in reply, her voice trembling so badly that at first, the demon had trouble to understand her, "for all the times I got you hurt, and just let it happen…"

"Don't", Pat gave back, "don't do… Willow, look at me. Please?"

It took the redhead a few moments to find the courage to do so, tears still streaming down her cheeks when she finally raised her head; pulling her even closer, Pat made sure to hold her gaze as she continued, eager to get her point across and make sure Willow knew that she meant it.

"Don't be sorry for this", she told her, in the kindest voice she could manage, "and don't blame yourself for it. Whenever I… do something to protect you which gets me hurt, it's my decision and mine alone. You never forced me to, you never manipulated me to, it was always my own recklessness and lack of ability to think ahead, always. Every. Single. Time. How often have you told me I shouldn't be so reckless? It's not your fault I don't listen."

To her relief, she had found the right words this time, a small smile curling the redhead's lips as she processed those words; smiling back at her, Pat started caressing her back yet again, feeling her relax this time, yet another sign that her little speech had had the effect she had desired.

"And if you ever feel this way again, talk to me about it", she added, her relief only growing when the witch nodded immediately in reply, "without some evil sorcerer bringing it out at first, okay?"

Again Willow merely nodded in response, then let out a heavy breath, her flow of tears having stopped by now; she took another moment to just breathe, not wanting to start crying again the moment she'd open her mouth, then finally found herself able to speak again, the tremble gone from her voice, as well, even though it was slightly hoarse from crying.

"Thank you", she sincerely told her lover, tightening her embrace around her slightly, "for… all of this. Thanks…"

"Nothing to thank me for", Pat reassured her, then bent down for another tender kiss before she suggested that they should get moving and meet up with Giles at his place, the witch nodding for a third time in reply, amazed by how much better the demon had made her feel in just a few minutes as they started walking, her despair not just pushed to the farthest corner of her mind now, but fully gone, replaced by a deep sense of gratitude towards her partner and the love she felt for her.


	22. Chapter 22

"So where's our new friend", the demon wanted to know half an hour later, sitting on Giles' couch now with Willow next to her, the witch's hand resting on her upper leg close to her knee, still in need for physical contact, "you locked him up somewhere?"

"Chained in the basement", Buffy replied, smiling slightly, "Giles and I are thinking of just keeping him there until the alignment is over. Not much trouble he can make from there, but…"

"But what", Willow was the one to ask, figuring it had something to do with her, since Buffy was looking at her quite guiltily, the Slayer clearing her throat audibly before she replied.

"Giles suggested we should… put some sort of circle around him", she explained, "one to block his magic, so he can't try anything until the alignment is over."

"A Circle of Aradia", Giles clarified, obviously not happy with Buffy's explanation, making Willow nod as this told her at once what exactly he wanted and what it would do; noticing the confused look of her partner, she smiled slightly at her, then quickly explained what the circle was and how it would work.

"Aradia is a Goddess of protection, among other things", she let the demon know, "if we put him into a Circle of Aradia, he won't be able to do any magic or have any spells cast on him until the circle is broken."

"Oh, neat", Pat gave back, once more demonstrating her lack of knowledge about all things magic, despite the inclination for it her very nature gave her, "I didn't know that can be done. Is it difficult?"

"Not for someone with Willow's level of power", Giles reassured her, "in fact, it should be fairly easy for her. And it only has to be cast once to hold up until it is broken, unlike, for example, the magic blocking your chip."

"He can't break it, can he", Pat wanted to know, frowning, "cause that would kind of make it moot."

"No, he can't", the witch was the one to answer that, "these circles are meant to protect the one who casts them, from malignant outer forces, and the only one who can break it as the one who casts it. So, in this case, it'll be me."

"Good", the demon nodded, "yeah, good idea, that might work. If you're up to it, are you strong enough to do this, after…?"

"Yes", Willow replied at once, "I just need salt and something to anchor it, moonstones would be good, Giles…?"

"I have four", Giles gave back, gesturing at the small pouch on the table, "I suppose we can get more, Anya should have some at the store."

"No", the redhead declined, "four should do, one for each cardinal point… It would be better if we had moonstone powder, to mix with the salt and to increase the magical properties of both, but we don't have time to grind them up, we better do this—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Pat leaned forward next to her, then brought her fist down on the pouch, hard enough to cause an audible crack which made them all jump; she briefly glanced up at them, momentarily looking sheepish, then shrugged, gesturing at the much flatter bag now, not even bothering to give any other explanation.

"Nevermind", the witch was the first to recover from the little scare, "thanks."

"Welcome", the taller woman smirked, "but you better check if they are powdered enough now or if I need to hit them again."

"Warn us before you do", Buffy dryly gave back, "and also, show-off. I could have done that, too."

The only response she got was another shrug from the demon while Willow smirked slightly; shaking his head at their antics, Giles got up from his seat and moved to the kitchen, quickly returning with a bowl and a packet of salt.

"Willow is right", he told the small group, upending the pack over the bowl and filling it almost to the brim, "we should do this fast, before he finds some way to free himself and makes things unnecessarily difficult for us."

While he spoke, he picked up the bag, peering inside before he poured the powder and stone fragments onto the salt; using one of the pens on the table, he quickly mixed the powder with the salt, picking out a few of the bigger chunks afterwards.

"Want me to smash those again?" the demon offered, prompting the Brit to look at Willow questioningly; she took a look at how big the fragments were, then nodded, figuring it was better to be safe than sorry.

Briefly, the taller woman gave her a smirk, then picked up the stone fragments; she clenched her fist tightly, the muscles and sinews in her forearm bulging visibly, and when she opened her hand again, fine dust trickled out, onto the pile of salt and moonstone powder in the bowl.

"That should do", Willow nodded, "thanks. Let's do this then, before he does come up with something down there. Lead the way, Giles."

Nodding, the Watcher did just that, the witch following him, with Pat and the Slayer behind her; all four of them made their way down into the cellar, where Morgan sat on the cold stone floor, his back to the wall, his hands still behind him, now chained to the heating pipes which ran along the stone.

"There you are", he greeted them as they all entered the small room, making it quite crowded yet again, "I was wondering how long you'd just let me sit here. I see you feel better, Willow."

"Don't talk to her", the demo told him in a dangerously calm voice, only the brief flash of red in her good eye showing her emotions, "you've done more than enough."

"I told you", Morgan shrugged, unimpressed, "I didn't do much. I used what was there already. She didn't tell you, then? It's not me you should get angry at then, if she doesn't trust you enough to—"

She cut him off by moving towards him with two fast steps, grabbing his shirt and hauling him up as far as his chains allowed it, the fabric bunching up around his throat and cutting off his flow of air; behind her, Buffy took a step forward to stop her, only to have Willow grab her arm, the witch shaking her head silently when the blonde looked at her in confusion.

"Buffy might be against killing you", Pat snarled at him, her eye glowing with a constant bright red now, "but I'm not. So shut your mouth now, before I lose my temper and break your fucking neck."

She let go of him at the last word and stepped back, watching how he slumped back down, coughing audibly; for another moment, she glared down on him, then retreated fully, making room for Willow to step forward, the bowl in her hands, a low, hoarse chuckle coming from him when his gaze fell on the contents.

"A circle, eh", he wanted to know, the redhead ignoring him though as she started spreading the salt and moonstone powder around him, not even looking at him when she had to get quite close to him so she could close the circle behind him, "smart. And not easy to pull off. Except for someone with your power, of course."

"Shut. Up." Pat grumbled at him, and clearly, she had made enough of an impression on him to make him fall silent; after giving her a brief grateful look, the witch finished the circle, then moved back from him, handing the bowl to Giles before she closed her eyes and began the chant, mumbling the words under her breath so he wouldn't hear them, a soft, yellow glow soon forming around her hands, then streaming away from her fingertips and towards the salt and powder, the mixture beginning to glow as well the second the light made contact.

Slowly, the flow of light ebbed down, then stopped completely, the salt still glowing on for a bit longer before the glow vanished from there, as well; letting out a heavy breath, Willow nodded when Buffy asked if it was done, wiping sweat off her brow afterwards, nodding yet again when the demon asked her in a low voice if she was okay.

"I'm fine", she then reassured her verbally as well, "just tired. Today has been way more draining than I thought it would be."

"You can get some rest soon", Buffy smiled at her, prompting her to smile back weakly – before the Slayer's gaze focused on Morgan, hard and cold now, her voice sounding the same way when she addressed him, successfully hiding the fact that he just kept smirking his little smirk at her unsettled her quite a bit.

"As for you", she told him, holding his gaze, "as Pat said, I'm not gonna let her kill you, not if we can avoid it. You'll just sit nice and tight in this circle, and once the equinox and alignment are over, we will let you go. You will leave, and never come back here, because if you do, I swear that I will look the other way when my demon friend here starts breaking bones."

"So noble", Morgan replied, still with that little smirk on his face, "I suppose you expect me to thank you now, Slayer?"

"No", Buffy spat in response, then turned and marched off without another word; the demon sent another glare at the bound man before she followed the blonde, Willow and Giles doing the same moments later, none of them looking back as they left Morgan behind, all of them sharing the unvoiced hope that now, they would have peace until the alignment and the imminent danger for Willow's life were over.


	23. Chapter 23

The trip home had been made in silence, and once they had arrived there, they didn't speak much, either, the witch only telling her partner that she'd change into her sleepwear and earning a vaguely agreeing grunt in reply; and while she changed, she thought about what Morgan had said to the taller woman, about how it wasn't his fault that she hadn't trusted her enough to tell her about her feelings of guilt, her heart clenching up as she asked herself if Pat had believed him, if this was the reason why she had been so quiet ever since they had left Giles' house.

"You know it has nothing to do with how much I trust you, don't you", it finally blurted out of her, just after she had finished pulling on her pyjama pants; next to her side of the bed, Pat briefly stopped in mid-movement, then finished pulling her shirt over her head, her gaze meeting the witch's afterwards, the warmth in her eye already taking some of the redhead's anxiety away.

"I know", she reassured her, moving around the bed and to her side, calming her down even further by pulling her into her arms, "of course I know."

"You were so quiet during the walk home", the smaller woman mumbled as she returned the embrace and snuggled closer to the demon, briefly closing her eyes when she felt Pat's arms tighten around her, "so… I don't know, I just thought… I got worried… I mean, you just learned today that I kept this from you for so long and then Morgan said that and I was just worried that…"

"Willow", Pat interrupted her, not unkindly, "hush. You're babbling, and while I do find your babble to be adorable, you'll hyperventilate any moment. I don't give a sh… anything about what Morgan says."

"Nice save", Willow gave back with a weak smile, earning a low chuckle from the taller woman, her face and voice becoming sincere again moments later though as she replied.

"I trust you with my life, I hope you know that", she told the smaller woman, "and nobody can change that. Especially not some up-jumped sorcerer with delusions of grandeur."

"Warlock", the witch gently corrected, "he's a warlock. And a pretty powerful one at that, that spell he used to… feed my emotions, that's some pretty big mojo, not to mention the one which made us go through the shooting again. I'm not sure why he wants my power if he has so much of his own already."

"Some people just never get enough", the demon shrugged in response, "but it doesn't really matter anymore, does it? He's locked up and caught in that circle, and we just have to make sure he stays in there until the alignment crap is over. And, man, am I glad this only happens every six hundred years or so, this has been way too exciting."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that", Willow giggled, her laughter making the black haired woman smile, as well, "considering you get grumpy if you can't beat anything up for too long."

"Yeah, but I get even grumpier if someone tries to kill me, or you, or both of us", Pat pointed out in response, "and that he didn't succeed with that surely can't be written off to any lack of him trying."

"That's true", Willow glumly agreed, a shudder running through her as she remembered how she had heard the shots, had seen her lover go down; clearly, Pat sensed what she was thinking about, since she somehow managed to pull her even closer, caressing her back tenderly as she spoke up again.

"Hey", she mumbled, her voice low now, "don't worry about that anymore. I'm fine, it all healed up. Hurt like a bitch, but healed just fine."

"Language", Willow reprimanded in response, prompting her partner to clear her throat audibly; she briefly smiled at her, then let out a hearty yawn, the demon immediately taking the not all too subtle hint and responding with a vague gesture towards the bed.

"You better get some rest", she then said, earning a nod from the redhead, "after all the excitement today and that spell, I guess you need it."

"Indeed I do", the witch agreed, then reluctantly pulled back from the embrace and moved over to the bed; Pat did the same, and the moment they had both gotten comfortable beneath the covers, she pulled her into an embrace, holding her close and making her smile yet again.

"I love you", the taller woman mumbled once Willow had settled into her embrace, her head coming to a rest on her shoulder, "sleep well."

"Love you, too", the redhead gave back, already halfway off to dreamland, as the sleepy sound of her voice showed, making the taller woman smile yet again, "and you, too. Thanks for everything…"

In response, Pat merely held her closer, caressing her hair tenderly; she forced herself to stay awake until Willow was sound asleep, then followed her into dreamland quickly, both of them to their relief and gladness sleeping soundly until the next morning dawned.

* * *

"I don't know about you", Willow told her lover in the next morning, as they were having breakfast together, "but I just want to take it easy today. Just hang around here, maybe take a nap or two or have a nice, hot bath together…"

"Sounds good", Pat mumbled her agreement, her usual morning grumpiness already lessened by half a cup of coffee and a cigarette; smiling, the redhead reached over the table and grasped her hand, earning a lopsided smile from the demon before she picked up her cup and took another deep gulp of coffee, her addiction to caffeine causing the witch's smile to widen slightly.

"I'm glad you agree", she then stated, pulling her hand back so she could take a drink of coffee as well, "so we can lie on the couch together all day long. Watch some mindless stuff on TV and…"

Her stomach turned, a sudden wave of nausea interrupting her; her eyes went wide, and then she jumped up from the chair and bolted, the demon looking after her startled for a few seconds before she got over her shock and rushed to follow her, not really surprised when she saw her vanish into the bathroom.

Hurriedly, she entered, as well, just in time to hold her hair back as she fell down on her knees in front of the toilet and threw up; breathing heavily, Willow clenched her fists as another wave of nausea ran through her, the feeling of Pat rubbing her back making it a bit easier though when she threw up once more, heaving dryly afterwards as her stomach had been thoroughly emptied.

"Morning sickness, huh", Pat rumbled, earning a weak nod from the redhead; she rubbed her back for another half minute, then rose from the ground to fill the toothbrush tumbler with water, handing it to her wife afterwards, an action which brought her a grateful look from Willow before she washed out her mouth, letting out a heavy breath after spitting the water back out.

"Well", she then mumbled, her hand coming to rest on her stomach, "the little guy or girl in there surely took a while, but finally, it did happen…"

"I was hoping you'd be lucky and it wouldn't happen at all", Pat gave back, tenderly rubbing her back again now, "you want me to make you some tea or something?"

"No, it's fine", the redhead replied after another moment, during which she had tried to figure out if she'd start feeling sick again, "I think it's over… for now. Gosh, I hope I won't have that every day from now on…"

"Me too", Pat grimaced, making sure to stay close to her as she got back up, just in case her knees might buckle or something else, equally unpleasant, "cause that would suck. And it would make me feel real bad cause I'm kinda the one who got you pregnant."

"Not kinda", Willow told her with a slight smile, getting her toothbrush ready for use as she spoke on, "remember what Hecate said, that was just what you did. And don't you dare to feel bad about it, ever…"

"Can't help it", the taller woman shrugged, earning yet another smile from the redhead; she briefly smiled back at her, then told her that she'd give her some room and peace now, reaching out and running a tender hand over her rounded stomach before she left the bathroom, the witch watching her go before she focused on her morning hygiene, her thoughts wandering as she started brushing her teeth.

Unsurprisingly, she started thinking of Morgan, sitting in Giles' cellar, chained up and locked in a circle of magic; she held back a smile as she thought of how well the casting of said circle had gone, knowing well how much power this spell needed, briefly even asking herself if she would have been able to do it before her rampage years ago, before the time she had absorbed all the dark power into herself and…

Her eyes widened and she froze as a thought hit her, a terrible oversight from all of them; hurriedly, she got done brushing her teeth, rushing back to the kitchen the second she had finished, the demon looking up from the newspaper in surprise at her rushed entrance.

"What is it", she then demanded to know, alarmed at the shocked look on Willow's face, not even fully noticing that she was getting up from her seat, "something wrong? Is it the kid?"

"No", Willow gave back, momentarily touched that this was the first thing the demon thought of, after her initial reaction to the news of her pregnancy, "the circle… It won't hold…"

"What", Pat replied, flabbergasted, for a second not having an idea what she was talking about, prompting the witch to explain further, a feat which wasn't easy to accomplish, considering how worried and alarmed she was feeling all at once.

"During the alignment", she still made herself start at the most logical point, "magic won't work, none of it… So the circle will just go pouf and he'll be free!"

"Dammit", the demon grumbled to herself, "you're right… I can't believe we've missed that. Alright, he's not good with the hand to hand, or at least we think so, but we know he has a sniper rifle and kind of knows how to use it. So what do we do?"

"Too bad we don't have a panic room", Willow mused out loud, prompting the taller woman to mumble something about houses and modifications and bunkers under her breath, "then we could just hide there. It has to be some place he doesn't know, and where he won't find us for the two hour duration of the alignment…"

"So, no to Buffy's house then, Giles', or the Magic Box", Pat counted off their most recent places to stay, "he probably knows about the Bronze too, and while I doubt he'll think that we regularly hang out at Willy's and thus won't look there, I don't trust the little snitch at all, so going there is not an option, either."

"The college isn't, either", Willow added to the list of places they couldn't use to hide, "he surely knows I went there, and would check there, too. Wow, we really have to get less predictable about the places we frequent."

"The hospital", Pat realized in reply, smirking with a bit of pride at her idea, "he won't look for us there, the last time we went there, we got out again as fast as possible, and I bet Dr Henderson would let us hang out in the morgue if we ask her nicely. He surely won't look for us there."

"Dr Henderson is gonna be thrilled", Willow dryly gave back, "if she doesn't kick us out for seating her next to your friend Sue during the wedding, she'll make us sit in the corner so we won't disrupt anything. But you're right, and it's a good idea…"

"Also, scalpels", the demon smirked, earning a slightly confused look from the redhead which prompted her to elaborate further. "Small, sharp knives, in other words? Knives Dr Henderson has there in abundance for her daily job, and which can be used as weapons if one isn't afraid to get their hands dirty?"

"Oh", the witch caught up, momentarily embarrassed about how dense she just had been, "right. Of course. Um, I'm gonna call Buffy then, and warn her… And Giles, so he can get out of there before the alignment, just in case Morgan feels the need to attack him or something."

"Good thinking", Pat complimented her, "perhaps we should call the doctor as well, just to make sure she's actually there, and not on holiday or something. Imagine us walking in on some substitute and the poor person has no idea who we are and why we might want to hang out in the morgue."

Nodding, Willow briefly grimaced at that mental image, then moved to get her phone, the demon following suit a moment later, figuring that they could save some time if she made at least one of those calls, both of them exchanging uneasy looks as they couldn't help but wonder if they had made the right choice and if they really would be safe in the hospital until the alignment and thus the danger for Willow's life had passed.


	24. Chapter 24

"Okay", Pat stated hours later, checking her watch, "alignment's gonna start in half an hour. We better get moving."

While she spoke, she checked the dagger she had decided to bring along to make sure it was sharp, then hid it in the sheath tucked into her boot; nodding her agreement, Willow put on her jacket, grumbling slightly as she did so, her words making the taller woman smirk in amusement.

"I'm gonna be so glad when this is over", the witch groused, buttoning up her jacket and putting on her shoes, "hanging out in a morgue is not what I imagined when I suggested that we take it easy today."

"Well, it is gonna be quiet there", Pat pointed out with a small laugh, earning a not all too serious glare from her partner while they left their home together, "and hey, perhaps you can have another discussion with Dr Henderson about how people in Sunnydale are so good at ignoring things which don't fit into their worldview. She really did enjoy that talk you had with her at the wedding, I think I even saw her smile once."

"Indeed", the redhead replied with a small giggle as they made their way downstairs and out o of the building, "if she's not too busy scolding you for ditching out of the hospital after the explosion. Those news surely reached her by now, you know."

"Oh", the taller woman gave back, not all too smart, earning another giggle from her wife, "right. But hey, it was for a good reason!"

"Of course it was", the witch nodded her agreement at once, "I wouldn't have let you do it if it hadn't been. But you know she…"

She trailed off when the black haired woman slowed down her walk, then stopped, tensing up visibly as she glanced around; not bothering to ask what was wrong, Willow stopped as well, focusing her will without a second of hesitation, knowing that her partner had a reason to act this way.

"Demons", the demon said next to her, with a distinctive growl in her voice, confirming her suspicions, "can't tell how many, whole bunch of them. All around us."

"Good instincts", a deep voice rumbled, said demons melting out of the shadows all around them, showing that they had been surrounded, "and I suppose you also know who sent us."

"Of course", Willow was the one to answer that question, momentarily surprised that this demon seemed to capable of the human language – after all, they looked just like the ones who had attacked them at the Magic Box two days earlier, and from what Anya had said, they normally weren't capable of any speech other than their own. "Our new friend Morgan."

"Correct", the demon gave back, "and as you can surely see, we outnumber you vastly. So, if you just come with us peacefully, no bloodshed will be necessary. Your wife can come, as well, so you will not be alone during your final hours."

"Right", Pat grumbled, "telling her that we can hang out until Morgan kills her surely will convince her to come along. Sorry, but no cigar this time, boys."

With the last few words, she clenched her fists and let them flame up, with an audible _whoomp_ ; usually, this impressed their foes to a certain degree, sometimes even making them reconsider, but clearly, it didn't work out this way this time, the demons not even fidgeting, merely looking at them.

"How did he send you", Willow demanded to know, trying to buy some time as she gathered her power; the spell to lock Morgan inside the circle had been quite tiring, and she wasn't sure how much of her magic had recharged since then, not wanting to risk going into overload and maybe fainting or having the darkness within her take over, "we locked him up last night."

"He had plans in case you might capture him", the demon shrugged off her concerns, "plans we are not here to discuss with you. Do not try to stall us, witch."

"Less talking, then", Pat growled while the redhead held back a groan, annoyed at how easily this demon had seen through her actions, "and more fighting."

"As you wish", the demon replied, now with a slight smirk on his face; he gave the tiniest, barely perceptible nod, and the blink of an eye later, the group of demons surged forward as one, obviously having decided that they'd use their numbers to their advantage and would simply overpower them this way.

"Get up a shield", Pat hurriedly hissed at her partner, keeping her voice low to make sure the advancing opponents wouldn't hear her or at least wouldn't be able to understand what she was saying, "and don't drop it, no matter what!"

Even though Willow didn't like the thought of hiding behind a shield and letting her wife do all the work, she nodded, hurriedly conjuring up the shield before the demons could reach them; making sure that it enclosed her completely, she flinched as the first demon slammed into it, fervently hoping that it would hold enough for her lover to take them down, knowing that there wasn't much she could do – her magic still hadn't recharged enough to let her use any proper combat spells without endangering herself, and the mere thought of taking a hit to the mere delicate areas of her body, like her stomach, made a cold shiver run down her spine.

A low growl came from somewhere to her left, then the demon who had hit her shield first took a flaming fist to the face; another one tried to break through her magical barrier with his claws, only to end up grabbed and tossed against two more of his companions, the redhead unable to hold back a smile as she watched how her lover ploughed through the dozen of demons, not even properly aiming her punches and kicks, just lashing out fiercely, the number of opponents making sure that she still landed a hit every time she did so.

To her dismay though, they quickly figured out that they couldn't touch her, and all focused on her partner; and it didn't take long until the taller woman was buried beneath the onslaught, soon vanishing from sight as the demons overpowered her.

Fidgeting nervously behind the shield, Willow tried to come up with a way to help her, without letting the shield drop for longer than a few moments; before a vague plan could be formed though, a loud growl came up from somewhere beneath the writhing mass of demons – and then flames started flickering beneath them, smoke rising from the pile while several of them cried out in pain.

With a slight smile curling her lips again, the redhead watched how a bunch of them scrambled to get away; still burning from head to toe, Pat sprang to her feet again, her good eye glowing brightly red, loud growls coming from her as she grabbed yet another demon, making him scream as her flaming hands burned him, and headbutted him, hard enough to send him to the ground.

"Take her down", the leader demon, clearly the only one capable of human speech, snarled, "once she's down, the flames will be gone, too!"

In response, the demons snarled in almost perfect unison, moving a bit closer, but not close enough to get burned; clenching her fists, the black haired woman tried to keep her eye on all of them at once, not wanting any of them to get the jump on her from behind or from her blind side.

"Behind you!" Willow called out as one of the demons tried just that; she spun around just in time to block the hit, hearing how her wife called out another warning, but not able to react in time, a low grunt coming from her as something which was too hard and blocky to be a fist or foot connected with the back of her head.

"No, stop!" she heard Willow cry out as stars exploded in front of her eye and she stumbled, fighting to stay on her feet; one of the demons managed to stick his leg in between her feet and tripped her up, and the moment she went down, they hit her on the head again, a groan of pain and dismay coming from her as she slumped down, the world going dark around her.


	25. Chapter 25

When she woke up again, the first thing Pat noticed was that her head hurt; the second was a queasy feeling in her stomach, as if she was close to throwing up, and the third was cold metal around her wrists, that last fact bringing her out of her half-conscious state quickly and into full alert- and awareness.

"There you are again", Morgan's voice came as she sat up quickly, the chain around her wrists clinking softly, binding her hands in front of her, "I already wondered if my friends might have hit you too hard. I apologize if they injured you."

Ignoring him, not even bothering to look at him, Pat glared around, not surprised when she found herself in the cellar of the old High School, close to the Hellmouth; and moments after that realization, her breath caught in her throat as she spotted her wife, lying flat on her back on some sort of stone table, bound to the rough surface with chains as well, her eyes closed, her slow, calm breathing showing that she was out cold.

"She's alive", Morgan told her, having noticed what she was staring at, "for now. In half an hour, the alignment will end, so in about twenty-eight minutes, I will have to kill her."

He briefly glanced at the lifeless witch, then at the demon again, merely smiling at the hatred in her gaze, confident that he had them both and that his plan would work out just the way he had intended it to.

"Surely you wonder", he went on after a moment, figuring that he might as well spend the remaining minutes talking, "why I haven't killed her yet. Why I haven't taken her power yet."

"No", Pat snarled, trying not to let him notice as she flexed her muscles, trying to judge how well that chain and especially the wall it had been secured to would hold once she'd use her full strength on it, "but surely, you'll tell me anyway."

"It'd be too much power to contain for much longer", Morgan did just that in response, "even with the magic being disabled thanks to the equinox and the alignment. As you surely noticed, I'm no weakling myself, and that darkness she carries within her is merely unable to act out now, but not gone. Can't have that whispering into my ear during the shut-down so it can take over once the alignment ends."

"So, then what", the demon demanded to know, figuring that she might as well keep him busy for a few more minutes, "you kill her, take her power, and then explode anyway when the alignment ends?"

"Of course not", the man replied at once, shaking his head, "then I jump into the Hellmouth. It has been prepared for what I plan to do, it will take me where I intend to go, and you'll all… the whole world… will be in for quite the surprise."

As if in response to his words, there was a distinct rumble from the Hellmouth, making the demon flinch; he chuckled at her reaction, a merry glint in his eyes as he got up and walked over to it, peering inside it, strange longing in his voice as he went on. "Even during this alignment, it is active and waiting… Ready for me. See how much power it has? I've been waiting so long for this. You fought bravely, and your protectiveness of your wife is admirable, but I will not let you stop me. I worked too hard and waited too long for this to let a former assassin who now discovered her good heart stop me."

Turning to look at her, he chuckled at her surprised look, then smirked, moving away from the Hellmouth again, passing the unconscious witch; and while he missed it, Pat noticed how just for the briefest moment, her breathing changed, become a bit faster, showing her that she wasn't as out cold as she wanted Morgan to think.

"Of course I know who you are", he told the black haired woman, stopping at a safe distance, "I did my research before I came here. Not to mention that your wife and you are quite well known amongst the demon community. Along with the Slayer, of course. I have to say though, your activities before you came to this town were much more… impressive. Some of those kills…"

"Thank you", the black haired woman dryly replied, now eager to keep his attention on her, figuring that Willow was working something out and not wanting him to notice, "it really warms my heart that someone like you would be impressed by what I did before I came here."

"Ah, sarcasm", Morgan nodded in response, prompting her to raise an eyebrow, "something you are very fond of, I've been told. I appreciate that."

"I don't give a fuck what you appreciate", Pat shot back at once, making him chuckle yet again, "but hey, at least you'll die after having a good laugh, that must be worth something."

"Your threats do not scare me", he told her, obviously unimpressed, "time's almost up, you're chained, your wife is chained and out cold on top of that, and in a few minutes, you'll have to watch me kill her. I'm sorry that'll also kill your child, but means to an end and all that."

"Yes", Pat agreed, prompting him to look at her in surprise as this had been the last answer he had been expecting, having been sure that she'd rage at him and threaten him, "and all that."

And with the last word, she shot forward, her muscles bulging as she gave the most powerful pull she could; just as she had hoped, the ring holding the chain at the wall was torn out of the concrete with a loud snapping sound, Morgan's eyes going wide as he took a step back, but before he could do more than that, she had tackled him, her assumptions that he wasn't much good at hand to hand combat being proven correct moments later as all he could do was flail helplessly beneath her.

"You know", the demon snarled as she brought the chain between her wrists down and across his throat, cutting off his flow of air, "the best chain is worth nothing if the wall you mount it to is old and crumbling. I'd say remember that for the next time, but there won't be a next time for you."

"Don't kill him!" Willow cried out, having given up her ruse and struggling against the chains, finding herself cut off from all magic; to her relief, her partner's anger clearly wasn't big enough to cloud her judgement, since she let out a vaguely agreeing noise, not taking her gaze away from the man though, keeping the pressure on his throat up, smirking when his face started to redden.

"Give in to it", she then told him, ignoring how he feebly swatted at her legs as she crouched over him; moments later though, she had to bite back a curse as his fingers landed on the hilt of the dagger she still had in her boot, but before she could stop him, he jerked the weapon free, swinging it blindly at her, only to have her bring up both hands and grab his arm, stopping the dagger inches from her side.

Gulping in a deep breath, he strained against her hold, fighting to injure her after all; snarling back at him, she easily held him at bay, the seconds ticking away, with her knowing that all she had to do was hold on until the alignment was over, and could easily kill him then, without any danger for her or Willow.

Gritting his teeth as well, Morgan kept trying, sweat having formed on his brow by now; having enough of his feeble tries, Pat pushed his arm further away from her, simultaneously forcing him to bend it so she wouldn't break it, the dagger pointing downwards now, right at his chest, fear in his eyes now as he realized how close he was to being killed.

"Not yet", the demon grumbled at him, "make no mistake, I will kill you. So enjoy your last few minutes."

In response, his strain against her hold increased even further, his arm trembling; and then, he suddenly smiled, giving her just a second to wonder what he was planning now – before he stopped pushing back at her so abruptly that it left her no time to react, and before she knew what was happening, the dagger had plunged down, straight into his heart, killing him within seconds.


	26. Chapter 26

"No!" she heard Willow cry out from where she still laid on the table, and then she felt it, even though the magic was supposed to be dormant, felt all his power hit her and take hold of her; the last few seconds ticked away, and she groaned as she felt the power grow and stir, the Hellmouth roaring again as if in anticipation while the chains which had been holding the witch fell down all at once, the redhead having regained enough of her power to undo the binding, hurriedly getting up and rushing to her lover's side just as she staggered to her feet again, as well.

"Oh God", the demon brought out, sweat now forming on her brow as the magic raged and worked within her, all the power Morgan had had transformed to her, "Willow, it's so much, I can't… I can't… oh God help me…"

"Stay calm", Willow instructed her, trying to keep her own voice calm, not fully succeeding though, "I can help you, we can contain this, just don't freak out…"

The Hellmouth roared again, and in a knee-jerk response, Pat's hands shot up, magic bursting from them; she yelped in dismay, then forced her arms back down, not wanting to imagine what might happen if she fuelled the Hellmouth further, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to handle this.

 _He knew,_ she then realized, her blood running cold, _he knew this would happen, that I wouldn't be able to control it, and that I'd kill him, so he let it happen, to make as much damage as possible with his death..._

Bright, red light flashed up in the Hellmouth, pulsating like the beat of a giant heart; and then, she could feel it calling out to her, to the magic within her, her feet moving on their own, making her take five steps before she regained control and made herself stop, her legs trembling as she strained against the call and the foreign magic within her.

"No", she heard Willow behind her, the witch hurrying to catch up with her again, "don't give in to it, keep your calm, we'll contain this… another circle, then we'll have time to figure out what…"

The ground shook violently, interrupting her, along with another roar from the Hellmouth; the light intensified, and Pat groaned as she realized how strongly it was pulling her closer now, how much of her strength it took to remain where she was and not just give in and let her feet carry her right over the edge.

"No time", she pressed out between grit teeth, "I can't… no time, it's growing stronger… something's coming…"

She hadn't even known that she would say this before the words had left her mouth, but the second they did, she knew they were true; the ground rumbled again, and then they heard it, a cacophony of growls and shrieks from the Hellmouth, the light growing brighter and pulsating faster as it reacted to the presence now getting ready to burst out.

"I'm sorry", the demon forced herself to say, still fighting against the pull, her heart breaking as the realization what she was apologizing for, what she was planning to do, hit the redhead and her eyes went wide with fear and disbelief, "Willow, I'm sorry… should have waited just half a minute longer…"

"No", Willow brought out in response, "no, you can't, I won't let you, you can't!"

"I have to", Pat almost wheezed, slowly losing the fight against the pull from the Hellmouth, "have to stop this before… before they get out… I'm sorry…" She took a few more steps, then stopped herself, groaning as now, her legs began to hurt; next to her, having kept up with her this time, Willow shook her head, tears filling her eyes as she cursed herself for not finding a solution for this, asking herself what she had all this power for if she couldn't stop this from happening.

"I'll come back", Pat wheezed, the pull so strong now that it felt as if it would tear off her legs any second, should she keep fighting against it, "he said he would, if I can, I'll come back… I love you…"

"No, don't do this, no", the witch still tried to stop her, grabbing her arm, telling herself that maybe, she could contain the magic with the aid of physical contact; then she felt how much of it there was, how strong it was and how merciless, connected to the Hellmouth in a way she hadn't even thought possible, overriding the strength of her lover as easily as she'd step from the street onto the sidewalk.

"Overload", Pat grunted, "that'll stop it… I'm sorry…" She kept her from more protesting by pulling her close harshly and kissing her, not a tender and gentle kiss, but an almost harsh, desperate one; and then, the pull finally became too strong and she had to stop the fight as her strength left her, using her last energy to push Willow away from herself before the last few steps took her over to the Hellmouth, the last thing she heard before she fell being the unarticulated, helpless cry the witch let out at the sight.

They found her not too long afterwards, sitting next to the now quiet and dark Hellmouth, staring into nothingness; the fact that Morgan laid dead, with Pat's dagger buried all the way to the hilt in his chest, and the fact that the demon was nowhere to be seen told Buffy everything, even before she took a glance at her best friend's face and saw the numb, detached expression, caused by the horrors she had witnessed while they had been searching for them.

"She fell", Willow still said before Buffy could do more than crouch down next to her and put one arm around her, "or jumped, to save me… us… something was coming, and she had to stop it… His magic…"

Buffy knew that there was nothing she could say to make it better, so she simply remained quiet, and merely held her friend in an awkward, one-sided embrace; and finally, the tears came, a shudder running through the redhead before she began to cry, her mind reeling as she tried to cope with the sacrifice her lover had made to save them all.

"I'm so sorry", Buffy now whispered to her, while Giles put one hand on her shoulder, and that only made it worse; and so, she just sat there and cried, letting her best friend hold her and the Watcher rub her back soothingly, knowing that none of the comfort they could give would be enough, that nothing in the world would be enough to soothe that deep-seated, horrible pain in her heart.

Still, she let it happen that Buffy gently pulled her to feet, then led her outside; she looked back once before they left, at the silent, dark Hellmouth, nearly breaking again at the sight, knowing that from now on, her days would be spend waiting for her lover's return, her last hope being that Pat would come keep her promise and come back to her.

* * *

"I was promised a powerful sorcerer", an annoyed voice said as she came back around, glancing around dumbly after her fall, finding herself in some dark and dreary landscape, grey and black everywhere, "you are not a sorcerer."

A strong hand grabbed her hair and jerked her head back so the speaker could look at her face; she wasn't surprised that he was a demon, but what did surprise her was the appraising look he gave her, followed by the slight smile which curled his black lips.

"You will do, though", he told her, letting go of her again, strong hands grabbing her arms moments later and hoisting her up, beginning to drag her along behind him as he turned and started walking, "you will do just fine. Welcome to my army, fire demon."

End.


End file.
